State Parks at the Century Mark

2017 marks the 100^th birthday of Missouri’s State Parks.  The state’s ninety-two parks and historical sites offer great diversity in both natural and cultural landscape.  The more than 150,000 acres open to the public offer an amazing array of activities.  In addition to hiking, some destinations offer fishing, canoeing, horseback riding, mountain biking, and two offer ATV trails.  Accommodations vary by location and include cabins, motels, lodges, and even yurts.  Over 3,600 campsites are available at forty-one different parks and historic sites.  Twelve parks have dining facilities.  Historic sites include covered bridges, mills, Civil War battlefields, homes of famous Missourians, cemeteries, and heritage sites.

Deutschheim or "German Home" in Hermann.  By 1860, more than half of
foreign born Americans were from Germany.  Deutschheim became a
State Historic Site in 1978

This is the rear of the home, with a German four-square "kitchen garden." 
The style of the home is German Neoclassical. It belonged to the
widow of one of the settlement's founders.

Germans settled along the Missouri River because it reminded them
of the Rhine Valley in Germany.  The area became the home of the
Missouri wine industry.  Some of the vines are over 100 years old

The park system was established in 1917 with the creation of a state park fund to purchase property.  Funding was through the purchase of hunting and fishing licenses, and the park fund was part of the state’s Fish and Game Department.   Six years passed before Arrow Rock Tavern (also known as the J. Huston Tavern), in the mid-Missouri town of Arrow Rock, became the first property acquired by the fledgling park fund.  The first land tract was purchased on October 17, 1924 and was designated as Big Spring State Park.  In 1937, the management of the parks was separated from the Fish and Game Department and placed under the auspices of a newly created State Parks Board. 
 

John Huston's Tavern in Arrow Rock, built in 1834, is the oldest continuously-operating
tavern and restaurant west of the Mississippi River.  It was the first property
acquired by the park fund and still operates as a restaurant with a contracted operator.

Big Spring State Park, Alley Spring State Park, and Round Spring State Park were subsequently recognized as nationally significant and were donated to the National Park System.  The Current River and the Jack’s Fork River are among the very few free-flowing rivers in the country.  Those two rivers and the high-volume springs and associated caverns are important natural features.  In 1964 Congress authorized 134 miles of rivers as part of the National Park’s Ozark National Scenic Riverways, the first-ever national scenic riverway designation.

Round Spring, once a State Park, is now part of the Ozark National Scenic
Riverways. The deep turquoise color is caused by the water being filtered
through limestone. The spring puts out 26 million gallons of water each day

A River Otter enjoys a swim in Round Spring.  In the Ozarks' springs and
subterranean waters live 38 species that are found nowhere else on earth

In 1974, the re-organization of state government created the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, which, among other responsibilities, took over the parks from the State Park Board.

In 1985 the extensive work completed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in and for the Missouri Park System was recognized when 247 buildings and 95 other structures located in Missouri’s parks were placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

This picnic shelter, in Bennett Spring State Park, near Lebanon, is a wonderful
example of the work done by the CCC.  This structure is now nearly 75 years old

Bennett Spring is the largest (by volume) spring in any state park, with a flow rate of
over 100,000 million gallons per day.  The water holds steady at 57 degrees Fahrenheit

At Bennett Spring, the CCC built bridges, cabins, trails, roads, a post office,
dining room, and the fish hatchery, as well as this dam

The water from Bennett Spring flows into the Niangua River, which eventually flows
into the Lake of the Ozarks.  Bennett Springs State Park was established in 1924

Ha-Ha Tonka became a State Park in 1978, but originally was the dream of Robert Snyder
of Kansas City, who wanted to build a European-style "castle" to be used as a hunting
lodge on 5,000 acres that he owned.  Snyder was killed in an automobile accident in 1906

Lake of the Ozarks, as seen from the castle. In the lower right corner of the picture, a spring
which once served the castle, feeds the lake; however, the lake did not exist during Snyder's
lifetime. This used to be one of our favorite spots when we were boating on the lake.

In 1967, the legislature directed the State Parks Dept. to preserve the four remaining
covered bridges in the state, including Sandy Creek.  It was the only one of six covered
bridges built in 1872 to allow traffic to move from Hillsboro to St. Louis that remained.

Sandy Creek Covered Bridge at Goldman.  Even after being
designated a State Historic Site, the bridge continued to
carry traffic on the old Hillsboro / Lemay Ferry Road until 1984

First Missouri Capitol, St. Charles.  This building housed the legislature and
governor from 1821 to 1826, while Jefferson City was being built further west.
The state did not own this building; it was rented from a local merchant

The Mark Twain Birthplace State Historic Site at Florida, MO.  The cabin was moved
from its original site three different times, in 1915, 1930 and 1960.  Samuel L. Clemens
(Mark Twain) was born in this cabin on November 30, 1835, but not on this site

To preserve the cabin, it is now housed inside a building on a high point overlooking Mark
Twain Lake. Some of the furnishings are authentic; all are period-correct. Also in the museum
is an original hand-written manuscript of the novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

The Katy Trail State Park near Rocheport, in mid-Missouri.  This was the first section
that opened, in 1990.  It is the nation's longest rails-to-trails project, at 240 miles
long by 100 feet wide.  There are 26 official entrance points along the trail

The Katy Trail at St. Charles, nears its eastern terminus.  "Katy" was the acronym
derived from the initials M-K-T, which stood for the Missouri, Kansas & Texas
Railroad.  Headquartered in Dallas, the Katy Railroad operated from 1870 to 1988

Bollinger Mill State Park.  This mill, built in 1865, replaced the original
1800 mill that was razed by Union forces in 1861 in retaliation for an
attack carried out by one of Bollinger's Confederate grandsons.

George Bollinger came to this area in 1790 from North Carolina, with a Spanish
land grant specifying that he settle and develop the land. He brought with him
20 German and Swiss families along with a number of German-speaking slaves.

The Burfordville Bridge is the oldest of the four remaining covered bridges
in Missouri.  Construction began in 1858.  It spans the Whitewater River.

Route 66 State Park was established on the site of the former town of Times Beach, which
was evacuated and razed after being contaminated with dioxin.  A massive EPA clean-up
made the land safe to use. The Bridgehead Inn (circa 1935) is now the park's Visitor Center

Graham Cave State Park near Danville, MO.  University of Missouri archeologists
have uncovered artifacts revealing Native Americans used the cave for shelter dating
back more than 10,000 years.  The cave is sandstone, unlike most caves in the state.

Montauk Mill, a grist mill built in 1896, ceased operation in 1926 when Montauk
became Missouri's 4th state park. This is a turbine mill as opposed to the more
picturesque water wheel mills typically found from this time period.

Montauk State Park, located at the headwaters of the Current river, and fed by natural
springs, is an ideal environment for rainbow trout.  The river is re-stocked each night from
an on-site fish hatchery.  My mom sits in the old-fashioned soda fountain in the lodge.

Missouri is characterized as "the cave state"with more than 5,500 caves
Onondaga was the name of a tribe of the Iroquois and means "Spirit of the
Hills".  Visitors to the 1904 World's Fair could ride a train to visit the cave.

Echo Bluff State Park, one of the newest parks in the system.  From 1929 to 1980,
it was operated as a summer camp, Camp Zoe.  It is located on the clear waters of
Sinking Creek which drains into the Current River, in Shannon County.

The Lodge at Echo Bluff has a stone fireplace soaring 3 stories tall.  It contains
20 guest rooms, each with a balcony and a gas fireplace. The brand-new
park and lodge opened in July, 2016

To access Current River State Park, near Salem, you have to travel a very rough
gravel road, but it is worth the trip. The facility, constructed between 1937 and
1945, was once the corporate retreat of the Alton Box Board Company.

There are 20 buildings on the property, which were originally men's and women's
barracks, a dining room, boat house (on a man-made lake), and a pool hall.
All of the furnishings are original to the property.

The property also contained this gymnasium.  In addition to being a State Park,
all of the buildings, located along a two-mile frontage on the Current River,
are on the National Register of Historic Places.

My Mom and Dad, Dorothy and Tracy, enjoying a beautiful fall day
at Current River State Park.  Though not quite at the century mark,
in a few weeks, they will celebrate their 69th wedding anniversary.

As part of the Centennial celebration, the Missouri Park System made available a State Park Passport (similar to the National Park Passport) that a visitor could have stamped when visiting each of the parks. This is a fun activity and gets a person visiting places one might overlook.  Mike and I made day trips, stopped along the way to and from other destinations, and discovered new RV opportunities.  My Mom and Dad and I have enjoyed time together on day trips and overnights at lodges.  In addition to enjoying natural and historical sites, these park visits have allowed us to enjoy being together and appreciate what the “Show Me State” has to offer.  Through 100 years of the Fish and Game Department, the State Park Board, and now the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, there are plenty of fascinating Road Stories.  

The Dogwood - the Official State Tree of Missouri

The Bluebird - the Official State Bird of Missouri

The pictures shown and the state parks mentioned in this blog are a random sampling of the parks that we've visited in my quest to fill our State Parks Passport.  We've visited others, and there are others yet to be visited.  Watch for more in the future.