{"id":76781,"date":"2023-12-04T09:44:12","date_gmt":"2023-12-04T15:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=76781"},"modified":"2023-12-04T09:44:14","modified_gmt":"2023-12-04T15:44:14","slug":"fort-hays-historic-site-hosts-christmas-past-at-the-fort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=76781","title":{"rendered":"Fort Hays Historic Site hosts Christmas Past at the Fort"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By RAEGAN NEUFELD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tiger Media Network<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christmas Past, an open house at the Fort Hays State Historic Site, has been an annual event for over 50 years, providing attendees with a glimpse of what life was like at the fort in the late 1800s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday and Saturday, community members toured the site\u2019s four buildings and visitor\u2019s center, which were decorated with old-fashioned Christmas decorations. Carolers provided entertainment, and volunteers handed out fried apples, apple cider and cookies for refreshments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe just thought that a long time ago it was important, and we have just kept it up,\u201d said site administrator Tammy Younger. \u201cWe feel like this is what started the whole community. The fort was here before the town.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Younger, the consistent participation and interest from the community is one of the reasons she likes having the event each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUsually about 2,000 people will come out for the event through both nights,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volunteers for the Historic Site are aided by The Society of Friends of Historic Fort Hays. According to member Elizabeth Harris, the group provides programming, monetary support, and help when the site is open for tours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of people come out and do lunch hours so (the volunteers) can go and eat lunch, and there will still be someone here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to events at the site, the group helps with preparation, decorating and making sure everything is maintained. Some also help during the events as actors dressed up for reenactments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt always culminates in a fun event,\u201d Harris said. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of work but it\u2019s fun and it\u2019s for a good purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In each of the sites\u2019 buildings – the guardhouse, blockhouse, and two officers\u2019 quarters – different informational displays are available for visitors to see, detailing the lives of the soldiers stationed there and of the Native Americans in the surrounding area. A temporary exhibit in the visitor\u2019s center also tells the story of press coverage following George Custer\u2019s death at the Battle of Little Bighorn.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a little gem,\u201d Harris said. \u201cWe only have four original buildings left, but just the location up here, it\u2019s kind of a high ground and you can see the horizon to the south and the west. You can just imagine how it was in 1867, that looks so much the same. The history here is very rich.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The site is open to visitors from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More information about the Fort Hays State Historic Site can be found on their Facebook page<\/a> and on the Kansas Historical Society website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Carolers provided entertainment for visitors walking through the officers\u2019 quarters.\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Rooms in the two officers\u2019 quarters were set up as they might have been in the late 1800s.\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
An imitation of the Ellis County Star, reporting local and national news from 1876.\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Rooms in the two officers\u2019 quarters were set up as they might have been in the late 1800s.\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
A visitor gets his picture taken with Santa, also known as Father Christmas, and Mrs. Claus.\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By RAEGAN NEUFELD Tiger Media Network Christmas Past, an open house at the Fort Hays State Historic Site, has been an annual event for over… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":76786,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3397,11],"tags":[15537,452,15536],"class_list":["post-76781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-area-news","category-news","tag-christmas-at-the-fort","tag-historic-fort-hays","tag-the-fort"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/12_1_23_Christmas_Past_carolers-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=76781"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76787,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76781\/revisions\/76787"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/76786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=76781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=76781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=76781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}