Megan Urban '04, a Fort Union ranger, teaches about 19th century life
The idea of traveling through time enchants many people, but Megan Urban gets to live it. Urban was born in the 20th century, works in the 21st, but occasionally she travels to the 19th century and she finds that fascinating. “I think it would be really interesting to be part of American history right after the Civil War,” she says. “I would want to observe the thought process of how America was changing.”
Urban is an education tech working for the National Park Service at Fort Union National Monument north of Las Vegas, N.M. She will be among the park service employees bringing Fort Union back to life during Candlelight Tours on Aug. 11
Fort Union was a military supply depot along the Santa Fe Trail between 1851 and 1891. During the Candlelight Tours staff members use skits to portray the fort’s history.
For the second consecutive year, Urban says, the 3,800 Buffalo Soldiers sent to the United States’ frontier will be the theme of the presentations. She hasn’t written this year’s skits yet, but last year Urban did a lot of research about a soldier named William Cathay – whose name was Cathy Williams until she decided to become the first African-American woman to join the U.S. Army in 1866. Read More