Our temporary community of Ft. Scott Kansas has some of the most beautiful homes you have ever seen. The sad part is that we have a lot that are in need of some tender, loving care. If you would like to buy a beautiful home and bring it up to snuff, I recommend you pay a visit to Ft. Scott and see what is available. A few of these I snapped pics of are for sale...others are receiving the care they deserve and are simply gorgeous. I wanted to be able to remember some of these by posting them in my blog. This particular home is called the Sample House, on 8th and National, and is presently on the market.
This house above was called the Scott House, and used in the movie "Learning Tree" which was made by Gordon Parks, a famous Life photographer and writer, who was born and raised here...a sad story of a young black youth who did not have any good memories of those years, but who was later befriended by someone from Ft. Scott and left his photos and story in a wonderful museum located on the campus of Ft. Scott Community College. We have purchased the DVD of the movie so we can see it for ourselves when we return home. The home with the American flag flying in the garden is known as the Hudson House, while the white home is the Penneman House, which is on the market.
In an earlier blog, I mentioned our friend Jeff, who is from Ft. Scott. The lovely light green home is the Cape Cod home his parents built around 1950, and in which he was raised. The red brick belongs to his special cousin, Barbara, from whom I am learning a lot about Ft. Scott AND Jeff...and she is creating a rock garden in the front.
Burke Street has some gorgeous homes on it, and here are two of them..the Humphries Home and the Potter House.
I leave you with this one - the Marble House, which carries a For Sale sign in front for $625K. These homes are treasures, and memories of a past that is fast disappearing. Want to make an investment in a Victorian home on the beautiful Kansas prairie?
This trip was a trip back in history to the original Border Wars, and I began to understand where the terminology in the rivalry between Missouri and Kansas athletics came from. Back in the mid-1800s the issue of slavery polarized the nation. The site of the Massacre of Marais des Cygnes took place in Kansas territory, less than 1200 feet from the state of Missouri. Missouri permitted slavery and wanted Kansas to do the same. The fight over slavery erupted into violence, giving rise to the name of "Bleeding Kansas". On this site, a proslavery group captured 11 unarmed antislavery men and forced them to march towards the MO border. When they reached this point, the captives were lined up in this ravine and shot.
In the background behind Jerry (taking the photo) stood a two-story log "fort", occupied after the massacre by abolitionist John Brown. John Brown stayed briefly, but long enough to liberate 11 slaves in Missouri and escort them all to freedom in Canada.
The cemetery contains the remains of most of the men massacred at Marais des Cygnes along with the memorial marker.
