Tesoro Cultural Center

Public Education Program
Tesoro’s Public Education Program meets and compliments the Colorado Content Model Standards for grades K-8 in History, Geography and Economics. We provide guided tours of The Fort (an authentic adobe replica of Bent's Old Fort) with an interactive trunk show to K-12 and adult groups. The half-day program (optional lunch or snack) operates throughout the year. During 2010, we served 2,780 students (an increase of 703 students from 2009) from Jefferson County and the surrounding area including Arapahoe, Adams, Douglas and Denver counties.

We are meeting the demand for more interactive and sensory educational programs that utilize a variety of learning techniques to capture the interest of students. Our program provides this experience with the multi-cultural component and the living history environment. Children who tour The Fort are able to step back in time while our historical interpreters explain the lifestyles of the peoples who first settled Colorado. We identify success with impacting one student at a time.

Historic Lecture Series
Yale University and the Howard Lamar Study of Frontiers and Borders academically endorse our Historic Lecture Series, which presents the finest scholars in the field of Western American history. The Historic Lecture Series features recognized and esteemed humanities scholars, historians and authors whose work provides a balanced interpretation of history, exploring topics from all perspectives and experiences of different races, ethnicities, classes and genders. Through our lecture series, Tesoro provides the public with a greater insight into the historic west's multifaceted and multicultural past. This adult education program cultivates a new appreciation for the diverse cultures that shaped our current landscape, and in doing so, increase knowledge and respect for all peoples.

The evening/dinner lectures are held at The Fort in Morrison, Colorado. Guests are immersed in the environment of the replica of Bent’s Fort listening to authors, academics and scholars discuss their recent studies and research about the old west traditions, peoples and lifestyles and offering insight into how we can apply the lessons from the past to our modern day society.

1830's Rendezvous
The 1830's Rendezvous utilizes The Fort’s surroundings to recreate the 1830’s life with mountain men, traders and voyagers displaying their goods and revealing Colorado’s history through fur trade and survival skills.