Site Fort Defiance Lodge
Best hereRanked #1 of 2
Day-use Lodge · Sleeps 60
We watch every site at Fort Defiance State Park 24/7, then email you the moment a cancellation opens up.
Pick your dates, pick the sites you want, we do the watching.
Ranked by how often each site reserves on weekends in peak season (Jun–Aug). Set up an alert and we'll email you on cancellations.
These sites rebook within minutes of being cancelled. Set an alert at Fort Defiance State Park and we’ll email you the moment one opens up.
Set up an alert →Fort Defiance State Park is named for the fort that once stood in the nearby community of Estherville. In the mid-19th century there was considerable concern among the settlers about the possibility of attacks by hostiles. In March of 1857, forty men, women and children were massacred near Spirit Lake and Okoboji. In 1862, a wounded 15-year old boy stumbled into town with the story of an Indian massacre in Jackson, Minnesota. This brought terror into the community and Captain W.H. Ingham and Company A of the Northern Border Brigade were dispatched to Estherville to construct Fort Defiance. The townspeople eventually moved into the enclosure but the feared Indian attack never came. Over time, the fort was taken apart and the timbers used to build cabins.