Welcome to Thursday Doors western style.
Fort Larned, Kansas, was part of a series of military forts established to provide safe passage for travelers in the 1800s.
The first military outpost established in this area was called “Camp on Pawnee Fork” and then “Camp Alert.” It was then moved to its current location and named Fort Larned for Col. Benjamin R. Larned, the US Army paymaster.
Sod and adobe buildings were originally constructed but then in the 1860’s they were replaced with the stone and timber buildings you see today.
Fort Larned was a military complex consisting of nine buildings arranged around a 400’ square parade ground. There are many openings around the facility including those on simple wooden coffins.
I have been to a few Civil War battlefields and to Gettysburg. Fort Larned can hold its own right up there with the big boys. The grounds and the buildings inside and out are pristine.
As you look at these bunks, consider the two blankets and two blue pillows on each bunk. After a long day, two soldiers slept on each bunk head to foot. The beds in the hospital were huge compared to their regular sleeping quarters.
I could upload a lot more photos, but I think you get the idea – each building is furnished with reproductions that bring the Fort to life.
Throughout the 1800’s, the soldiers stationed at Fort Larned were tasked with protecting the flow of people, supplies, mail, and eventually the crews working on the railroad expansion while at the same time attempting to keep peace with the Native American Indians.
Fort Larned is an exquisite peek back into our history right down to the embrasures where you rested your rifle
If you ever find yourself speeding along I-70 in the middle of Kansas consider a detour because I think you will find the facility and its history fascinating.
These doors are part of Norm Frampton’s Thursday Doors, June 29, 2017.
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Map Photo Credit: Forts of the Frontier West
I just love these old forts and their history. This looks like a really good one to tour. Sorry we missed it when we traveled through Kansas.
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I enjoy your history posts! Definitely not much room in their beds. We live only 30 minutes from Gettysburg! Been there several times. My Dad actually grew up there. 🙂
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These snapshots into the past are always fascinating and this one looks carefully reproduced.
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Amazing piece of history. Even today, Kansas has a vital military presence, with Fort Leavenworth, Fort Riley, and McConnell Air Force Base, and its citizens are very supportive of veterans and active servicemen.
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Fascinating details. I have already imagined my festering wound with no air to circulate around it, my snoring bunk mate’s breath infecting it, and then it’s off to a spacious bed for me…
Stoves and butler’s pantry — ooh and ahh.
I love the collage of doors, but what I like most about this post is the way your photo of the barracks and the flag gives scale to both, and the flat, flat land.
Lovely post.
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I really enjoy touring places like this. What a great find. Cheers
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Wow! Thanks for sharing. It’s very unlikely that I will ever go to Kansas, so I really appreciated “touring” the fort with you.
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I love historical sites like this one. It’s hard to imagine anyone being able to sleep head to feet like that, but I guess they were often just exhausted.
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It’s kind of ironic that this fort was actually protecting “trespassers” on Native land!
I like the Block House – the first picture of it in your collage, with the spooky “eyes” gleaming from within is delightful! Am I correct that it is the base prison?
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The irony is certainly there. 🙂 Yes, it was the prison with the ball and chains on the floor and the door to the hole or whatever they called it when they put you in there. In this case, I’m guessing those eyes/holes were for ventilation. I can only imagine how hot it would get in there in the middle of the summer. Whew. 🙂
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This is a fun and informative post from start to finish. My favorite doors are CAPS and HATS!! How two men slept in those beds is beyond me. It had been well stocked from the pharmacy to the commissary. Great photos.
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I love touring places like this. I would easily take that detour. Sleeping head-to-foot, after a long day in the hot sun…hmmm, I think I’d rather be sick and score me a big bed. I love the picture with the pot belly stove and those beautiful cabinets.
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When I first looked at the beds, I thought they were kind of narrow. When I realized it was two to a bed, I was thinking about the hospital beds myself. 🙂
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What a wonderful find, Judy! It amuses me that when the fort was active, it was kind of “the west”, although it’s really in the Midwest. They’ve done a great job with this place and I know my husband would enjoy seeing it, too. (Just a quick grammar nerd edit: it’s an exquisite “peek”, not “peak.” No peaks in Kansas!) 🙂
janet
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Fixed. 🙂
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Nice collection of photos. Looking at the hospital beds and bunks makes it seem silly for us to complain about “uncomfortable” mattresses. No “Sleep Numbers” for those soldiers. A much tougher life back in those days.
Donna
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So true. When I visit a historic site like this, it is always quite humbling to think about what we take for granted today.
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Ghettisburg is on my bucket list! Those hospital beds are good memories – I know that sounds strange, but it reminds me on one of my better summer jobs as a teen, where my task was to go around the beds at the hospital with coffee or tea. and serve meals. The hospital is a whole world in itself! Great post Judy and thanks for the memories!
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We chose the audio tour at Gettysburg. We could ride around and listen to the commentary. Several of the stops, we went back so we could listen again and get out and explore. It is a very humbling trip but one you never forget. 🙂
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That’s a neat way of getting the info across, then you can do it at your own pace. Can imagine it’s humbling!
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Such a fascinating peek into our country’s past, Judy. Visiting historic places truly makes history come alive! Thank you both for letting us tag along! Have a star-spangled holiday weekend, Judy! ♡
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What a neat side trip! Can you imagine sleeping and getting kicked in the face? I hope it didn’t happen often.
Thanks for the arm-chair tour. I loved it!
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I love places like this…sure enjoy your photos.
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I love reconstructions of old stuff. We live right around the corner from Sturbridge Village … and a lot of this area still looks pretty much like it did 150 years ago. Great photography!
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We always look out for this kind of reconstruction when we are travelling, it really makes you understand how they must have felt. I always think of how young the soldiers are/were, to cope with tough conditions, especially when wounded.
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Another great history lesson, thanks.
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Time travel IS possible. What a history lesson — thank you!
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Fascinating, Judy! thank you for sharing and for the excellent photos that help to tell the story!
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This looks so interesting and so beautifully maintained! AND it has lots of pretty doors!
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Lots of important history in that place. Thanks for sharing this 🙂
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Didn’t know about this fort, sounds like an excellent historic site.
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I really enjoyed the history and photos, Judy. I have a good friend who was born and raised in Kansas but has lived here in Ireland for over thirty years. I must show her this post.
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It’s a small world isn’t it? 🙂 I’d love to know where in Kansas. My husband’s family is from the western part of the state, and we lived on the eastern side.
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I’ll find out, Judy. Her maiden name was Hoover and she has siblings still living there.
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I have never met an old fort that I didn’t like. The doors are nice, but it’s the stonework that I love. Beautiful stuff. One thing that always surprises me in seeing old forts and uniforms (and stagecoaches) is that people really were smaller then than they are now. I think the average height of a Civil War soldier was 5’7″ or so. Still, sleeping head-to-toe in the those narrow cots must have been miserable. I would have chosen the floor!
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That stonework is gorgeous up close and personal. Our nephew worked one summer when they took some of the buildings down stone by stone and put them back up. Yes, they must have been tiny, and I would have opted for the floor as well. 🙂 Hope you have a nice summery weekend.
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Thanks for the tour. Sleeping head to feet must have been interesting!
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I think your blog is inspiring! I have nominated you for the Unique Blogger Award. If you choose to accept, follow this link: https://hisperfecttiming.blog/2017/07/01/the-unique-blogger-award/
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Thank you very much. I appreciate the nomination. 🙂
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You’re welcome
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last night, because Koopa was here as well, I had, in my QUEEN sized bed, 2 dogs ( Jugsy and Koopa ) stretched out on the bottom of the bed. While I had to nudge Koopa over a bit, we all fit. And still I thought that I was having troubles….trying to imagine two grown men having to deal with sleeping in those small beds is amazing.
Without air conditioning or fans.
I love to read about history. It often reminds me of what a wimp I am, and how did people endure what they did back then. We are so blessed in our modern era…
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Those beds just amazed me. They were exactly the size you’d expect a child to sleep in but definitely not two soldiers. They were made of tough stuff. 🙂
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Your history lessons are the best! You have seen so much and been so many places. Thanks for sharing it.
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Thanks for sharing Judy. I find the problems endured by the soldiers in those days to be astounding. I’ve often thought about the cold and their lack of warm clothing but the beds with 2 soldiers??? Yikes!
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Wow! A misjudged roll-over on that top bunk could be a bit dangerous! It must have happened now and then. Nice travelog for Fort Larned! Makes me want to visit.
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I had missed this post. I am so glad I came back to check out your longer than a week ago post, Judy.
The two pillows on a bed really touched me. I cannot imagine fighting or protecting all day, then coming into a bunkhouse to sleep head to toe on a cot!
I hope to spend time in other states than the ones I have traveled to, Judy. Fort Larned looked very interesting. As you mentioned the paraphernalia and memorabilia seem accurate and in pristine condition.
There’s nothing like the image of a wood stove in a huge barracks, attempting to warm up all those men!
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