Fort Scott, Kansas---a LIttle Bit of History

Next planned stop, Fort Scott, Kansas. After some research, Bob knew there were two possibilities for us to choose to camp. The first was Gunn Park, a city campground. We were able to stop and unhook the car to check out the campground. Unfortunately it had low branches throughout the park and we didn't want to try to maneuver through the narrow roads trying to avoid low branches. Our second choice, Lake Fort Scott, was just right! This campground was south of town, near the airport. It offered boondocking for $5 a night. All we had to do was park Sol any place we wanted and we were set to explore the area.

Since it had been a trying day of driving through traffic....unbelievable traffic for a Sunday...we decided to walk around the area and chill until Monday to do our sightseeing. As usual, we geocached our way to the historic fort.

 This old schoolhouse was located near a community college's walking path. There were several caches located around the path.

 Our next stop was Fort Scott National Historic Site. The fort was established in 1842 to protect the burgeoning American frontier. In 1853 the fort was abandoned and it was sold at auction in 1855.

 During the American Civil War, some of the buildings were leased by the US Army in an effort to keep law and order to keep Fort Scott safe from pillaging Confederates. One of the buildings became a children's home in the early 1900's. In 1978 many of the buildings were restored to their original appearance. The children's home/officer's quarters shows evidence of both uses.

 After leaving the fort, we came upon the local Veteran's Memorial. We have found that many small towns have beautiful memorials for their veterans.

Bob and I walked around town before choosing the local diner as the place we would eat lunch. On our return to Sol, we walked the area near the lake and got ready to move on the following day.