For more than three decades, the reconstructed officers’
quarters at the site of Fort Mason has been billed as one of our
community’s top tourist attractions. But how many people
actually visit it? And where do they come from?One year ago, a
guest registry was reinstated at Fort Mason for the first time
in many years. Since then, 2,892 people have signed it. Some of
the fort’s local caretakers have observed at various times that
approximately two-thirds of the guests they have seen at the
site actually signed the register. Based on that estimate, Fort
Mason probably drew more than 4,300 visitors during the past
year, which would make it Mason County’s single most important
tourist site.Even more impressive, the visitors came from 48
states and the District of Columbia. Foreign guests included
tourists from Israel, the Philippines, Hungary, Japan, Canada,
Mexico, Switzerland, Thailand, England, Ireland, Bolivia, the
Dominican Republic, India, Belarus, Argentina, Holland, France,
New Zealand, Germany and Vietna