Fort Scott featured in Kansas visitors guide

Fort Scott and southeast Kansas has been recognized in the 2009-2010 Kansas visitors guide.

The new visitors guide features Fort Scott and the surrounding area on the cover as well as in an article featuring the Freedom's Frontier, an effort to get 42 Kansas counties recognized for their historic contributions.

"This magazine is making southeast Kansas known to the rest of the state and elsewhere," Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce Tourism Director Cynthia McFarlin said.

The magazine features over 20 photos from Bourbon and Linn counties including, El Charro, Mine Creek Battlefield, Fort Scott National Historic Site, the daughter of Fort Scott Public Works Director Eric Bailey, and "Miss Pat" Pat Lyons having tea with her granddaughter.

"Being in the travel guide, I was so excited," Lyons, owner of the Lyons Twin Mansions, said.

Lyons said it is wonderful to have Fort Scott acknowledged in the magazine and is flattered the Twin Mansions were included.

"Its nice that our own state certainly has acknowledged and embraced the value of the Twin Mansions and the things we do here," Lyons said. "You can have all kinds of Victorian homes, but if they're not available for people to enjoy, to see, and experience, then it is just another drive down a pretty block."

McFarlin said the numbers in the FSACC Visitor Information Center have increased substantially. She said the increase is due to the stabilizing g5as prices and the amount of attention southeast Kansas has received from the visitor's guide.

"People look through this thinking it is a view of Kansas the state and they are seeing an awful lot about southeast Kansas," McFarlin said. "I would say it is very important ingredient or tool in our tourism toolbox."

The cover of the guide features a photo of a mounted Civil War soldier in the plains of southeast Kansas. The soldier in the photo is the Austin Schofield, son of Mine Creek Battlefield Site Administrator Arnold Schofield. Schofield said he is proud to have his son represent not only southeast Kansas but the entire state.

"It was exciting to say the least," Schofield said. "We are very proud."

The exposure in the magazine also helps the community realize what is in the area, McFarlin said.

"When you live in a place sometimes you don't realize how special it is ... this magazine produced by the state is showing us just how special we are here," McFarlin said.