The Depot at Grand Portage is the summer headquarters for the North West Company, and the Great Hall is the meeting room. Here, the owners of the company discussed necessary business with their clerks from the far reaches of the interior trading posts. The company owners traveled from Montreal to exchange information with the people acquiring furs across the riverways of the continent. When a day's business finished, tables were pushed aside for dancing and socializing to make up for long winters of isolation.
The four partners' bedrooms are set up as exhibit spaces to further explain the story. One room is as a bedroom. Another shows the process from beaver to fine hat. A third room is a London street with products derived from fur bearers, and the fourth is set up as a trading post.
A corner of the Great Hall is hung with blanket coats (capotes) and different hats for people to try on for memorable selfies.
Grand Portage National Monument
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service