• Fort Parade Ground and Officers Quarters as seen from Guardhouse

    Fort Scott

    National Historic Site Kansas

Candlelight Tour Scene Information

Sene Campbell, reading letter about the death of her fiancee

Volunteer Rachel Wells playing Sene Campbell in a previous Candlelight Tour.  This is one of the scenes that will be presented in this year's Candlelight Tour.

You may have heard of a shotgun wedding, but have you ever actually seen guns at a wedding? You may have heard about wives hitting their husbands with rolling pins but have you ever known anyone to whom this has happened? You might have seen Marshall Dillon track down the bad guys on Gunsmoke, but did you know that there was a marshal right here in Fort Scott who organized posses to go after lawbreakers? You will witness these scenes and more when you attend the 27th Annual Candlelight Tour at Fort Scott National Historic Site on December 5 and 6, 2008. 

 

Tickets are now on sale for this year’s tour. They may be picked up at Fort Scott National Historic Site or reserved by calling (620) 223-0310. Payments can be made via cash, check or charge (DISCOVER, MasterCard, Visa). Tickets are $7.00 for adults; children five and under are free. Tickets are nonrefundable. Tours on December 5 will begin at 6:30 p.m. and go every 15 minutes until 9 p.m. On Saturday, December 6, the tours will run from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. The tour is sponsored by the Western National Parks Association. Proceeds generated cover the cost of conducting the tour. 

 

This year’s tour focuses on incidents that took place at Fort Scott during the “Bleeding Kansas” era of the 1850s. In the first scene on the tour,  men move throughout the crowd gathering information about their neighbors. Armed men attend a wedding in the second scene on the tour. Soldiers in the third scene form a burial detail for one of their comrades felled in battle.  In the fourth scene, the Governor of Kansas Territory arrives in Fort Scott to restore order.  Citizens of Fort Scott gather in the fifth scene to mourn the death of one of the town’s leading citizens. There will also be a short walk-by scene where the marshal is recruiting a posse to put an end to illegal activity in Bourbon County. All of these scenes are scripted to convey the tension and conflict that permeated Fort Scott 150 years ago.

 

Experience this drama by making the candlelight tour at Fort Scott part of your holiday plans. Get your tickets today.

 

 

Did You Know?

Officers Quarters that later became the Goodlander Home for Children

After Fort Scott was abandoned by the army in 1853, the buildings were sold at public auction, and the fort became the town of Fort Scott. One of the officers' quarters eventually became the Goodlander Home for Children. For about fifty years, orphans and other needy children were cared for here.