Hi, I'm Ben Pollard at the Lewis and
Clark State Historic Site. I'm talking to
you today because we are thrilled that
we are finally going to be able to
reopen our doors to visitors inside the
Interpretative Center. Things are going to
look a little bit different. We've had to
make some changes to ensure the safety
of our staff members and our visitors.
And so I wanted to go through in this
video a quick breakdown of how things are
going to be a little bit different.
To start with, our tours are going to be
limited to 10 people. That's going to be
for outside tours and our inside tours.
We're not going to be able to let people
just come in and kind of walk around and
walk because we have too many small
spaces in the building. So we'll be
guiding tours throughout the day in
small groups to make sure that people
can safely social distance and still get
a lot out of the tours with their tour
guides. I'll get more into those tours
later on. I want to talk about some of
the other changes you can expect to see
in on our building and outside of it. To
encourage social distancing, we have
marked out lines where people can wait
outside of our front entrance. These blue
lines are six feet apart so you'll be
able to keep your space as you're
waiting for the designated tour. Either
to the outside or inside, it all meets
here at the front entrance. We will have
areas around Camp River Dubois and the
settlers cabin also spray painted out,
so you'll find your own markings on
those tours. And most importantly, when
you're inside the Interpretive Center, we
will have multi-colored dots throughout
the building- all six feet
apart from each other. So as we're
talking and going through the museum, everyone
will be able to find a spot where
they can enjoy the view and see what the
tour guide is talking about, but still
keep a respectful distance from everyone
else on the tour. For the indoor tours, we
are going to make the interpretive film
available. It's about 15 minutes long.
We are going to have seating that is
marked out with tape on the seats so
that everyone can keep their space in
there as well. Another change is that
while we will have the bathrooms open
for using the facilities and also for
hand washing, the entrance for now will
only be from the outside. The interior
entrance to the bathrooms will be locked
for the time being. The bathrooms are
going to be cleaned even more regularly
throughout the day. We pride ourselves in
 clean bathrooms already and so this
will be sanitized even more
often. After every tour goes through, we
are also going to be wiping down and
sanitizing the areas of the tour. So that
means every time that we have a group
come through, we wipe down afterwards. And
we have one good deep clean every day as
well. So that's another way that we're
keeping our visitors and staff safe as
these tours are starting to come
through our Interpretive Center. Some of
the other changes that we will see is
that I will be wearing a mask while I'm
talking with you. As we're going through
the Interpretative Center, and also for
most of the time we're outside, all of
the staff and tour guides will have a
mask on. So I'll actually look a bit more
like this when I'm talking to you. We are
asking that our staff and tour guides
wear these the entire time. That's to
keep our visitors safe. In the same way,
we are asking that our visitors (when
they come inside the Interpretative
Center) will be masked as well or wearing
a face shield. This is the best way to
ensure that our staff and our visitors
stay safe. So that's what I'll look like
most of the time, but I'll take it off
for the rest of the video. Now I said I'd
get back to how you can actually come on
a tour. We are only offering tours right
now Tuesday through Saturday. On those
days, we're offering three of each tour-
three outside tours and three inside
tours. Let's start with the inside tours.
Those will be coming through the
Interpreter Center,
checking out the interpretive film, and
then exiting out through the front door.
Those tours will be offered at 10:00
a.m., 12 p.m., and 2:00 p.m. We will also
be offering outside tours of Camp River
Dubois and the settler's cabin where
we'll walk around outside. Those are at
11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m. These tours
are limited- as I've said before- to 10
people each time. And so you're probably
wondering, "how can I get on one of these
tours?" The best way to ensure your spots
is to contact us here at the Lewis and
Clark State Historic Site. Give us a phone
call at (618) 251-5811. Again, that's (618) 251-5811.
Or you can email us at Tours@CampDubois.com
Again, that's "tours" plural at
"CampDubois.com. com. We're hoping to have
some other systems in place in the
future to where you'll be able to go
through our website and just sign up for
a tour slot. But, until that time, those
phone calls and the emailing are the
best way to reach us to reserve your
slots. Walk-ups are, of course, welcome, but
we will be prioritizing those that
reach out ahead of time to come on the
tour. We are so happy to be able to
finally be interacting with the public
again, sharing the Lewis and Clark story
and the role of the Illinois country in
the success of that expedition. So we
will look forward to seeing you soon!
Thank you and have a great day!
