At 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 12 in the Hjemkomst Center in Moorhead, students of the fall 2016 digital history class, taught by Angela Smith, will present the Red River Valley Historic Tours to the public.
“This a digital history project and the main focus was to research different sites around Fargo and Moorhead and come up with a walking tour that people can enjoy,” Courtney Johnson, an NDSU student and athlete double majoring in public history and social science education, said. “We are working with PocketSights, which is an app that anyone can download to their smartphone and take tours around the country. It uses the GPS in the phones to get you a step-by-step experience.”
The Red River Valley Historic Tours are set to take place across Fargo, West Fargo and Moorhead.
“We have a prohibition tour of Moorhead, Riverside Cemetery Tour, Island Park Tour and a tour of the sites that were burned in the Fargo fire of 1893,” Johnson said.
The tours are free to roam for the most part and are available as walking tours or driving tours.
“The easiest way to see what the students have created is to download the PocketSights app on your smartphone. The tours nearby automatically appear when the app is opened,” Smith said.
A feature of the project Johnson and fellow student Jackie Stifter have been working on is a historic walking tour of the NDSU campus.
“There is just so much history here that many students, faculty and alumni don’t even know about,” Johnson said. “We talk about some of the oldest buildings on campus, some of the university’s most influential people and talk about more cultural aspects that have happened on campus. We actually have an opening video with President (Bresciani) in it and we explained the project to him and he loved it.”
The central goal of creating the Red River Valley Historic Tours was to create a tour future generations of NDSU students, alumni and those interested in history could enjoy and actively take part in.
The event at the Hjemkomst Center will showcase each individual tour that is being offered through the PocketSights app, with each tour giving a short presentation explaining the contents of their respective tour.
The Hjemkomst Center, the Moorhead museum where the opening event is set to take place, is approximately a five-minute drive from NDSU’s main campus.
For more information on the Red River Valley Historic Tours, you can follow the group on Facebook, on Twitter @rrvht or visit fargohistory.com.
With any questions pertaining to the Red River Valley Historic Tours project, contact Smith at angela.smith.1@ndsu.edu.