Fort Scott National Historic Site

A field of sunflowers adds a splash of color to a view of the parade ground at Fort Scott.
Promises made and broken! Who deserves to be free? The fight for freedom! Soldiers fighting settlers! Each of these stories is a link in the chain of events that encircled Fort Scott from 1842-1873. All of the site's structures, its parade ground, and its tallgrass prairie bear witness to this era when the country was forged from a young republic into a united transcontinental nation.
Map showing location of park.
Image of a white two story building with a white railed porch and bricks with candle lanters leading to it.
44th Annual Candlelight Tour Tickets on Sale Now
Tickets are now on sale for the 44th Annual Candlelight Tour at Fort Scott National Historic Site, set for Friday and Saturday, Dec. 5–6, 2025. Tickets are available online at fofs.ludus.com for $5 per person The 45-minute guided tours depart every 15 minutes, 6:30 to 9 p.m. Friday and 5 to 8:45 p.m. Saturday, and end in the Grand Hall with warm drinks and snacks provided by the Friends of Fort Scott NHS.
Volunteers help park staff remove invasive plants from the restored tallgrass prairie.
Fort Scott National Historic Site to Host National Public Lands Day Event Sept. 27
Tens of thousands of volunteers across the country will join in trail maintenance, planting projects, trash pick-up, and other activities aimed at restoring and caring for public lands to celebrate the 30th Annual National Public Lands Day, September 27.
A field of sunflowers next to a stone building. Wood frame structures in background.
Photo by NPS Pnoto
Picture of the post hospital with the parade ground and trees in the background.
Photo by NPS Photo
Wood frame structures with stairs next to a stone walkway. Structures reflect afternoon sunlight.
Photo by NPS Photo
Four soldiers on horseback in a line riding through prairie grass.
Photo by NPS Photo/Michelle Martin
Women dressed as laundresses with laundry buckets and scrub boards stand on a stone porch.
Photo by NPS Photo
Picture of rows of flags across the parade ground with trees in the background.
Photo by NPS Photo: B. Boyko