Laura Abbott, 36, started at Fort Scott National Historic Site on September 20, 2019.
Her hometown is Lake Crystal, MN.
Abbott began her career because it was an opportunity to showcase history.
“When I finished college, with a degree in history, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life,” she said. “I randomly came across an opportunity to intern for the National Park Service in California, and because I had nothing else to do, I took it. As someone who hadn’t visited parks growing up, I wasn’t very familiar with the NPS, but once I realized that I would be able to use my love of history every day, I was hooked. It’s been such an incredible privilege to work for the NPS and share my passion with visitors.”
“My title is park ranger,” she said. ” My responsibilities include conducting interpretive programs and historic weapons demonstrations at the fort and working as the volunteer coordinator.”
Abbott’s first job with the National Park Service was in 2008 when she worked as an unpaid military history intern in San Francisco.
“In 2010, when I moved to Washington, D.C. to attend graduate school, I got a job as a park guide on the National Mall and have worked for the NPS ever since,” she said.
” I have worked at Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Francisco, Mount Rainier National Park in Washington, and the National Mall and Memorial Parks in Washington, D.C.,” she said.
Fort Scott National Historic Site is unique, Abbott believes.
“I think what’s most unique about the park is that the story it tells really can’t be found anywhere else in the NPS,” she said. ” It’s a story that is not very familiar to many people. The Mexican War and Bleeding Kansas are usually footnotes in history, so to have a park where these events actually occurred is pretty special.”
FSNHS park visitor center, park store, and historic structures will be open daily from 8:30 am–4:30 pm through March 31, 2020, it’s winter hours.
Fort Scott Kan. – The Fort Scott National Historic Site’s Visitor Center and fort buildings will be closed, and no programs will be offered, on Christmas day and New Year’s day (December 25, 2019 and January 1, 2020) to allow staff to celebrate the holidays with their families.
Winter hours are in effect from November 1-March 31 at Fort Scott National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service. The site exhibit areas and visitor center are open daily from 8:30 am-4:30 pm. The park grounds are open daily from ½ hour before sunrise until ½ hour after sunset. To find out more or become involved in activities at the Fort, please contact the park at 620-223-0310 or visit our website at www.nps.gov/fosc.
Abby Schauer, 23, is a new permanent park guide at Fort Scott National Historic Site.
She is from Spencer, Iowa and was hired on August 4, 2019.
Family vacations inspired Schauer to pursue a career with the National Park Service.
“Every year, my family would go on vacation to national parks across the country, mainly Rocky Mountain National Park,” she said. “These vacations were something that I looked forward to every year and countless memories were made during these trips.”
Hiking trails, completing Junior Ranger books, attending ranger programs, camping in a little pop-up camper, looking for wildlife every evening, or skipping rocks on a pristine mountain lake, these are the memories that inspired her.
“I enjoyed every single moment in these amazing places,” she said. “So, when deciding what I wanted to do for a career, I chose to pursue a path with the NPS so I could help to preserve and protect these places that have so much meaning and to help people experience their parks and make memories just like I had the chance of doing.”
She is passionate about National Parks and feels honored to take part in protecting them so that both this and future generations can learn, enjoy, and be inspired by them, she said.
Her main duties at FSNHS include guiding tours, working in the visitor center, working with school groups, helping to plan and execute special events, and is in charge of the park’s living history clothing.
Her priority is to help people learn about and connect with Fort Scott National Historic Site, she said.
Schauer has served at five national parks.
“I began my career with the NPS as an Interpretive Intern at Mount Rushmore National Memorial during the summer of 2017,” she said. “I completed my last year of college after that internship and then started working seasonal jobs around the country.”
Following her time at Mt. Rushmore, she became a fee collector at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, then Tumacacori National Historical Park in southern Arizona where she completed an interpretation and education internship, and then worked at Grand Canyon National Park as an Interpretation Park Ranger.
Schauer believes each park contributes to the American story.
” Fort Scott tells several stories that are not well known but were pivotal in the development of the United States,” she said. ” Not only does Fort Scott offer the opportunity to learn about these important stories, but the facility offers a look into the past with the impressive original and reconstructed buildings on site.”
FSNHS park visitor center, park store, and historic structures will be open daily from 8:30 am–4:30 pm through March 31, 2020.
Hayley Moore, 25, is the new Fort Scott National Historic Site Museum Technician, since Sept. 16.
Her hometown is Southern Pines, NC.
When Moore was growing up, every family vacation included visiting museums, a national park, or a historic site, she said.
“I particularly fell in love with museums and once I learned that there were people who had careers working in museums and taking care of objects, I immediately knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” she said. ” I had never considered a career in NPS as I never knew that they had archival and museum collections. I had always associated national park sites with scenic views and outdoor activities, not museums.”
Serving the public is a part of her heritage, Moore said.
“Having a mother who is a teacher and a father in the army, I grew up seeing how devoted they were to serving the public and it inspired me to do the same,” she said. “I decided to pursue a position with the federal government. I was applying for every museum and archive job I could find and eventually I saw openings for museum and archives positions for the park service. Eventually, I received an offer and accepted a position as a digital archivist at Everglades National Park in Homestead, FL. When I accepted my first seasonal position at Everglades National Park, I had no clue what I was getting myself to.”
Her colleagues impressed her.
“I quickly fell in love with NPS’s mission,” she said. ” Being around my colleagues who were so passionate and knowledgeable about both cultural and natural resources of the park made me realize that the agency fit with what my career goals were.”
“There’s something at every national park for everyone whether it is history, science, or just being outdoors. It makes so many different types of subjects and activities accessible to the public all while trying to ensure the preservation of resources for years to come. For someone like me who went into museums, wanting to make sure objects were being preserved and taken care of, the National Park Service aligns with my career goals.”
“I began my career in the National Park Service last May when I took a seasonal job as a digital archivist at Everglades National Park,” Moore said. “During my six months, I drafted a standard operating procedure for digital collections, cataloged science permit deliverables for Biscayne National Park, assisted the museum technician with annual inventory, and did a full inventory of the archival collections.”
“It was an incredibly rewarding experience and a great introduction to the National Park Service as a whole, she said. “It made me step out of my comfort zone as I had never worked with science collections before and lived in a national park. One of my favorite things about the park was that you could just be driving to work and you could come across the wildlife of the Everglades such as pythons, alligators, and the great egret. ”
Her title at FSNHS is a museum technician.
“I am in charge of the care and management of both our museum and archival collections,” she said. “I am responsible for the housekeeping of our exhibit space, ensuring our objects are being cleaned…by the Department of Interior (DOI), NPS, and museum standards. I complete our Integrated Pest Management Program (IPM) where I trap pests and collect data on what we might be in our exhibit spaces and could cause harm to our objects. I handle the accessioning and deaccessioning of objects and catalog objects using our collection management system as needed. I also complete our annual inventory and annual submission of our collections that are required by NPS’s Museum Management Program. I am also available to visitors if they have any inquiries regarding our collection.”
Moore, like many who work for the NPS, has worked in diverse places in the U.S.
“Before coming to Fort Scott, I was working as an intern at the National Catalog for NPS’s Museum Management Program in Harpers Ferry, WV, ” she said. “Previously I worked at Everglades National Park, volunteered at the Tufts Archives in Pinehurst, NC and interned at the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library in Staunton, VA and the University of St. Andrews Special Collections Library in St. Andrews, Scotland during my college and graduate school years respectively.”
FSNHS history is fascinating to Moore.
“It’s a period in American history that not many tend to know about or talk about,” she said. “Growing up in a southern state where Civil War history is so prominent, there isn’t too much focus on the period before the Civil War. At our site, we focus on that area by interpreting that gap. We look at the daily life of soldiers in the new beginnings of the westward expansion of the United States, we’re one of only two NPS sites that has a history associated with the Mexican American War, and we are located where Bleeding Kansas took place. There’s so much packed into one site and it’s fascinating to be able to tell each of those stories, how they relate to one another, and the overall history of the United States. I can’t say I’ve worked at a place quite like this.”
The Grand Ballroom is festooned with greenery in preparation for the candlelight tour on Friday and Saturday. Friends of Fort Scott National Historic Site will serve refreshments here after the tour.
Our history is a part of our culture.
And one of the gems of Fort Scott is the national historic site at the end of Main Street that tells of the beginning of the city as an army outpost.
This weekend the 38th Fort Scott National Historic Site’s Candlelight Tour will help participants understand the life of military life in the 1840s.
Tours start at dusk Friday and Saturday night Dec. 6 and 7 and last approximately 45 minutes. Tickets must be purchased prior to the tour.
Call the Fort at 620-223-0310 (with a major credit card) or stop by the Visitor Center on Old Fort Blvd.
Participants are advised to please dress for the weather and the terrain, as they will be outside and on sidewalks.
“It’s a way to share and celebrate the holiday with the community,” Carl Brenner, Cheif of Interpretation and Resource Management said.
“The public (tour-goers) will be a dragoon soldier and get an enlistment card, each will be a different soldier,” Brenner told the weekly Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce Coffee attendees Thursday morning.
“The persona of each soldier will be giving tours of each scene,” he said.
There are six different scenes.
Approximately 100 volunteers help with the annual Candlelight Tour, Brenner said.
Every year the tour is different.
“We want people to learn and have new experiences telling different stories,” Brenner said.
The Fort Scott High School Drama Department will be a part of the storytelling.
“They do such a great job, we wanted to get them involved,” he said. “They will be showing a scene of what payday was like (for a dragoon.)”
Fort Scott High School Drama Teacher Angie Bin’s advanced theatre students, in their third or fourth year of taking drama class, were given guidelines and information from the FSNHS to guide them in writing a scene that takes place in the 1840s on a payday.
“I had two classes that each wrote a script and then Barak Geertsen, at the fort, consolidated the two scripts into one final draft. We have five students who are acting in that scene. We also have a student acting as a sergeant in another scene.”
Many other students will act as tour followers during the tour, she said.
Most of the tours are filled so an 8:30 p.m. tour was added.
The cost of the tour is $8 for those 6 years of age and up.
“We are asking that people show up 10 minutes early to find a parking spot and make their way to the visitors center, Brenner said.
The Friends of FSNHS will provide refreshments at the end of the tour, one of their many supportive rolls for the fort.
Reed Hartford, president of the Friends of Fort Scott National Historic Site, tells the Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce attendees of the support services the group supplies the fort.
Only a few days until the 38th Annual Candlelight Tour
Fort Scott Kan. – A few tickets still remain to participate in Fort Scott National Historic Site’s 38th Annual Candlelight Tour. Later tour tickets are still available by calling the Fort at 620-223-0310 (with a major credit card) or by stopping by the Visitor Center on Old Fort Blvd.
Tours on December 6 will begin at 6:30 pm and leave every 15 minutes until 9 pm.
On Saturday, December 7, the tours will start at 5 pm with the final tour leaving at 8:45 pm.
Please arrive 10 minutes early to allow time to park, present/pick up your ticket, and get oriented.
Tickets are $8.00 per person and non-refundable, children 5 and under are free. Participants are advised to please dress for the weather and the terrain, as they will be outside and on sidewalks.
1,000 candle lanterns illuminate the site and 100 reenactors (including you) bring the fort to life. “This year’s tour will include the audience in the tour stops. It will feature six stops around the site beginning with the enlistment and ending with reassignment of release from service,” said Betty Boyko, Superintendent, Fort Scott National Historic Site. “We encourage everyone to dress up (in modern or period clothes) and step back in time.” Take the tour under the identity of one of our own Fort Scott soldiers. Enlist in the U.S. Army stationed at the Fort; learn about life on the frontier; the ups and downs of payday; celebrate the holidays 1840’s style; find out how much the officer’s wives appreciate all of your hard work; and after an memorable career, receive your discharge or reassignment stamp. Keep your enlistment card to remember your journey through time.
“Our fourth scene was written and will be presented by the Fort Scott High School drama students,” Carl Brenner, Park Ranger noted in a separate press release.
-NPS-
Fort Scott was an active military post from 1842-1853, which was a time of rapid growth and change in the country. As Fort Scott was being built, the nation grew west, expanding all the way to the Pacific Ocean. With this growth, Fort Scott changed, the mission of its soldiers changed, their experience changed, the environment changed, and the nation changed. Soldiers at Fort Scott lived their lives to the fullest despite the constant change.
The leaves are changing for fall and winter, so are the hours of operation at Fort Scott National Historic Site. Beginning Friday, November 1, the park visitor center, Park Store, and historic structures will be open daily from 8:30 am–4:30 pm through March 31, 2020. The buildings are closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. The park grounds, walkways, and parking lot continue to be open from ½ hour before sunrise until ½ hour after sunset daily.
Fort Scott National Historic Site is a fee-free park that offers a glimpse into the growth of our nation through a short film, interactive audio-visual programs, displays, the museum, and historic objects. A walk through the fort reveals the significant role it played in the opening of the West, as well as, the Civil War and the strife in the State of Kansas that preceded it.
Park Rangers are on hand and happy to help you learn more about the area and plan your visit.
For more information about Fort Scott National Historic Site programs or become involved in the candlelight tour, or other activities, please call the park at 620-223-0310, or visit our website at www.nps.gov/fosc.
Fort Scott Kan. – Friday, November 1, 2019, tickets for Fort Scott National Historic Site’s 38th Annual Candlelight Tour go on sale. Tickets are available by calling the Fort at 620-223-0310 (with a major credit card) or by stopping by the Visitor Center on Old Fort Blvd. They are $8.00 per person and non-refundable, children 5 and under are free. It is recommended that you get your tickets early for your choice of tour times as this event frequently sells out.
The 38th Annual Candlelight Tour is December 6 and 7, 2019. Tours on December 6 will begin at 6:30 pm and leave every 15 minutes until 9 pm. On Saturday, December 7, the tours will start at 5 pm with the final tour leaving at 8:45 pm. Please arrive 10 minutes early to allow time to park, present/pick up your ticket, and get oriented. Participants are advised to please dress for the weather and the terrain, as they will be outside and on sidewalks.
1,000 candle lanterns illuminate the site and 100 reenactors (including you) bring the fort to life. “This year’s tour will include the audience in the tour stops. It will feature six stops around the site beginning with enlistment and ending with reassignment or release from service,” said Betty Boyko, Superintendent, Fort Scott National Historic Site. “We encourage everyone to dress up (in modern or period clothes) and step back in time.” Take the tour under the identity of one of our own Fort Scott soldiers. Enlist in the U.S. Army stationed at the Fort; learn about their life on the frontier; the ups and downs of payday; celebrate the holidays 1840’s style; find out how much the officer’s wives appreciate all of your hard work; and after an memorable career, receive your discharge or reassignment stamp. Keep your enlistment card to remember your journey through time.
Fort Scott was an active military post from 1842-1853, which was a time of rapid growth and change in the country. As Fort Scott was being built, the nation grew west, expanding all the way to the Pacific Ocean. With this growth, Fort Scott changed, the mission of its soldiers changed, their experience changed, the environment changed, and the nation changed. Soldiers at Fort Scott lived their lives to the fullest despite the constant change.
From November 1-March 31, Fort Scott National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service, will be open for its winter hours of operation. The site exhibit areas and visitor center are open daily from 8:30 am-4:30 pm. The park grounds are open daily from ½ hour before sunrise until ½ hour after sunset. For more information about Fort Scott National Historic Site programs or become involved in the candlelight tour, or other activities, please contact the park at 620-223-0310 or visit our website at www.nps.gov/fosc.
Fort Scott National Historic Site glows during the annual candlelight tour event.
Fort Scott National Historic Site Announces Its 38th Annual Candlelight Tour
Be an Active Part of History
December 6 and 7, 2019, Fort Scott National Historic Site will present its 38th Annual Candlelight Tour.
Tours on December 6 will begin at 6:30 pm and leave every 15 minutes until 9 pm. On Saturday, December 7, the tours will start at 5 pm with the final tour leaving at 8:45 pm. Please arrive 10 minutes early to allow time to park, present/pick up your ticket, and get oriented.
Tickets go on sale Friday, November 1st and are available by calling the Fort at 620-223-0310 (with a major credit card) or by stopping by the Visitor Center on Old Fort Blvd.
They are $8.00 per person and non-refundable, children 5 and under are free.
It is recommended that you get your tickets early for your choice of tour times as this event frequently sells out. Participants are advised to please dress for the weather and the terrain, as they will be outside and on sidewalks.
1,000 candle lanterns illuminate the site and 100 reenactors (including you) bring the fort to life.
“This year’s tour will include the audience in the tour stops. It will feature six stops around the site beginning with the enlistment and ending with reassignment of release from service, where the fort’s buildings were sold to the public two years after the U.S. Army abandoned Fort Scott,” said Betty Boyko, Superintendent, Fort Scott National Historic Site. “We encourage everyone to dress up (in modern or period clothes) and step back in time.”
Take the tour under the identity of one of our own Fort Scott soldiers. Enlist in the U.S. Army stationed at the Fort; learn about life on the frontier; the ups and downs of payday; celebrate the holidays 1840’s style; find out how much the officer’s wives appreciate all of your hard work; and after an memorable career, receive your discharge or reassignment stamp. Keep your enlistment card to remember your journey through time.
Fort Scott was an active military post from 1842-1853, which was a time of rapid growth and change in the country. As Fort Scott was being built, the nation grew west, expanding all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
With this growth, Fort Scott changed, the mission of its soldiers changed, their experience changed, the environment changed, and the nation changed. Soldiers at Fort Scott lived their lives to the fullest despite the constant change.
From November 1-March 31, Fort Scott National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service, will be open for its winter hours of operation. The site exhibit areas and visitor center are open daily from 8:30 am-4:30 pm. The park grounds are open daily from ½ hour before sunrise until ½ hour after sunset. To find out more or become involved in activities at the Fort, please contact the park at 620-223-0310 or visit our website at www.nps.gov/fosc.
Jane Njeri Lifer smiles following the naturalization ceremony in 2017. In her hand is the certificate of naturalization. Lifer is a Fort Scott resident.
What has become an annual Fort Scott event since 2011 each September is a chance to see people from all parts of the globe become citizens of the United States.
The Naturalization Ceremony, as it’s called, will be at 10:30 a.m. on the grounds of the Fort Scott National Historic Site, just off the north end of Main Street.
Fort Scott National Historic Site
The naturalization ceremony involves a judge introducing the group of new citizens and a ceremony where they swear allegiance to their new country. The full program and words to that allegiance are at the bottom of this story.
” Last year we had 95 new citizens from 35 countries,” Carl Brenner from the Fort Scott National Historic Site said. “This year we are expecting about 120 new citizens.”
It is also a time of reflection, music, documents handed out, registering to vote for the new citizens, followed by a communal meal at the Fort for them and their families.
A bird’s eye view of voter registration following the naturalization ceremony. The League of Women Voters, Johnson County, provided the resources for the registration.
The United States District Court for the District of Kansas is the official government office holding the event.
The Honorable Teresa J. James, United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Kansas, will preside over the ceremony.
Fort Scott High School musicians play patriotic music.All the citizens are introduced to the audience, one by one.
This year, the speaker is Dr. Leo Oliva.
Dr. Oliva is a Kansas Historian, author and former professor of history at Fort Hays State University, Betty Boyko, Superintendent of FSNHS, said.
The event is open to the public.
In case of rain or other inclement weather, the ceremony will be held at Fort Scott Memorial Hall.
FSNHS Superintendent Betty Boyko welcomes the crowd to the fort grounds in this 2016 photo.The PSU ROTC presents the flags of America and Kansas during the ceremony in 2015.
The program:
There will be music provided by the Fort Scott High School Orchestra.
Then a welcome by Betty Boyko, Fort Scott National Historic Site and Dave Martin, City of Fort Scott.
The official court proceeding will be opened by U.S. District Court Deputy Carol Kuhl.
Followed by the presentation of the Colors by Pittsburg State University Army ROTC.
“The Star-Spangled Banner” will be played by the FSHS Orchestra.
The new citizens will be welcomed by Judge James.
“America: Sweet Land of Liberty” arranged by Michael Story will be played by the FSHS Orchestra.
The new citizens will be introduced by John King, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, then led in the recitation of the Oath of Citizenship by Carol Kuhl, Courtroom Deputy.
“America the Beautiful” will be performed by the FSHS Orchestra and Choir, followed by remarks by James.
The group will then hear from Leo E. Oliva, who is a Kansas historian.
The Pledge of Allegiance will be led by the FSHS Choir.
Closing remarks will be by Judge James.
The new citizens and their families will be offered a complimentary lunch in the Grand Hall provided by the Friends of Fort Scott NHS, Inc.
The following is the oath that the new citizens take:
United States of America Oath of Allegiance
I, _________________________ hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.
The Friends of Fort Scott National Historic Site (NHS) are once again hosting an 1800s Grand Ball. It will be held on Saturday, November 9, 2019, in Memorial Hall located in old downtown Fort Scott. The ball is only one part of the celebration for Veterans Day Weekend in Fort Scott. Along with 1800s period dancing and music, the ball will honor all veterans and current military personnel. All funds raised at the Grand Ball will go to support the activities of the Friends of Fort Scott NHS. The Friends provide support to the national historic site in a variety of ways, such as assisting with educational activities and programs for all ages as well as providing refreshments for special events. Tickets will be available at the Fort Scott Chamber starting October 16th.
The tentative schedule for the Veterans Day Weekend activities in Fort Scott are listed below.
Friday, November 8 – The Missourians Gospel Quartet, a special concert honoring veterans at Memorial Hall, 7 pm
Saturday, November 9 –
1800s Period dance lessons, Grand Hall on the grounds of Fort Scott National Historic Site, 10 am – 1 pm, free, street clothes
Parade Honoring Veterans, Downtown Fort Scott, 3 pm
1800s Grand Ball, Memorial Hall, doors open at 6:00 pm, Dancing from 7 – 10:30 pm
Sunday, November 10 – Elvis Impersonator Concert, TBA
Monday, November 11 – National Cemetery Services, 11 am
General information concerning the weekend will be continually updated at the Fort Scott Chamber website at www.fortscott.com.
“We would like to encourage everyone attending the Veterans Day Weekend activities to come and participate in the 1800s Grand Ball, and likewise, we encourage anyone attending the 1800s Grand Ball to take part in the other activities offered during the weekend in Fort Scott,” Dee Young, member of the friends group said.
