The gate had an entrance that had one guard. Above the entrance was a small room with a drum inside. These rooms are considered sacred and shoes must be removed to enter. The beautiful traditional Korean paintings were so detailed.
After we got all our front gate pictures, we picked up a map from the visitor center. None of us had any idea of the history of this particular fortress, we were just told it was a gorgeous fortress with beautiful grounds and would be on our way to the Apple Orchard.
To our surprise, we found that this fortress was a prison and torture place for Catholics in the 1800's. Say what?!? The first stop was at the Pagona Tree, where it was reported that the tree is over 300 years old and the place where they would hang the Catholic believers during the time of Byeongin Bakhae. At this point, I was beginning to wonder what we just walked into. Looks like today would be a history lesson.
The next stop was at the Prison House where it was reported that countless Catholic believers were kept to await their tourture or hanging. There were even crosses in front of the prison that explained their torture. Here's Little A smiling away in front of the prison. Now you can't see it, but inside was a bronze statue of a person who looked very much in pain and as if they were in prison. Just smile and nod.
We then came across an area of grass that had lawn toys. The games depicted Korean games of the time. There was a neat arrow game where the kids had to try to toss the arrows into one of three slots. There was a ring game and a rolling hoop game. I was flabbergasted that the games were in such pristine condition and that none of them were broken. They were just laying there in the open. In America, the games would all be broken, stolen, or missing parts. I love how Koreans have a sense of pride in their things. The Koreans take care of all things around them and are extremely respectful. We made sure to leave the games as we found them, just as a Korean would.
Our next stop was at the Dongheon, which is the central administration building, or the governor's house. This was the building where the trails would take place.
Next we made our way up a super steep stairway to the Cheongheojeong. This was where the soldiers would rest, take a break or train in martial arts. We were expecting a huge building, and by the time we made it up the forever stairway, we found it it was rather small.
The kids were a little frustrated. They didn't understand why we walked up all those stairs just to see a building that looked the same as every other building we had seen. Going down the stairs made up for the trek up. There were water gutters on either side of the stairs, and the kids slid down the gutters, like a slide.
We were running out of time, because we had an appointment at the Apple Orchard, so we had to hurry and leave. It was a great history lesson and a sacred place. I am glad we came, and wished we had more time because we only saw about half of the fortress. But I went with some amazing women. Here are two of them: Kara Morgan and Siboney Arny. Holly Rust came too with her family. It was a great group and the kids had some great friends with them.
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