Confederate Memorial State Historic Site — Attraction in Higginsville

I’m a Historian from Kansas and I’ve spent the last 2-3 years now traveling all across Kansas and the US in general discovering history in person and doing my best to showcase it properly.

During the Autumn of 2023 I road-tripped to every state right of Kansas and during that roadtrip I visited multiple plantations down in Alabama and Mississippi and conducted a handful of interviews about the history of those places and all that went on there.

I know a lot of Confederate monuments have been town down and placed in Museums, and well that’s kinda what this is. It’s a Memorial site, but it’s a memorial site which also serves as a lovely museum. Those who had to fight a war are being respected with their names still honored. A lot of them were drafted and forced to fight a war they wanted no part of.

If you enter the chapel, there’s a kiosk in the corner with lots of old photos and information on this place or you can head inside the office and have a nice talk with the fella who runs the place. He’s a nice guy!

The Chapel though is beautiful, well maintained and you can learn all its history from the info kiosk I mentioned. Parking lot is big and free, the cemetery is well maintained and the Monument itself outside is a beautiful work of art. I love sculptures and that Lion is just majestic!

Overall, it’s a lovely place to learn...

Went for a Sunday drive to clear my head. 40 minutes later I ended up here at sunset. Could not have asked for a better destination. "Welcome this is the way...." The sign read. Even in winter the grounds were kept. As the sun set it was a sight to see! I only wish it had been a tad warmer and I had made it there a bit earlier. Definitely a good place to sit in retrospect, meditation, prayer, peace,calm, what-have-you.... I didn't even get to do that this time around. I could feel the energy as I walked the chapel grounds, read the memorial, walked around the graves. It is a powerful place to be. The buzz of something beyond my understanding, nothing strange or scary people, just the slightest of sounds barely audible. Like the wind, you can only hear it if it moves the leaves. Wonderful unexpected find on a Sunday drive. I hope to come back when I find free time, rare...

The Confederate Memorial State Historical Park is nice and serene. There's a beautiful lake, with a one lane winding road which adds to the quiet ambiance. At the cemetery one could be caught off guard by how tiny it is. It is astounding that over 800 people were laid to rest there. They also have information signs posted at the cemetery giving visitors a fantastic glimpse onto history. They turned the chapel into a museum and it's...