MISSOURI STATE PARKS

Crowder State Park provides 1,912 acres in the rolling green hills of northern Missouri. Visitors can enjoy more than 17 miles of hiking, bicycling, backpacking and equestrian trails in a forested, rugged terrain. The park also offers fishing and boating opportunities on 18-acre Crowder Lake. The family-oriented campground includes modern restrooms and shady picnic sites are scattered throughout the park.  

Mastodon State Historic Site contains an important archaeological and paleontological site – the Kimmswick Bone Bed. Here, scientists discovered the some of the first solid evidence of the coexistence of humans and the American mastodon in eastern North America.

Today, visitors can learn about this discovery at the site museum. The museum contains an interpretive video, displays of ancient artifacts and fossils, and an impressive mastodon skeleton replica. Interpretive programs explain more about the significance of the site, archaeological and paleontological sciences, and local ecology.

For anyone wanting to stretch their legs, the site offers three trails, including one that leads to the site where the bones and artifacts were found. The park also offers picnic sites, a picnic shelter, a playground, a special-use area for organized youth organizations, and a wildflower garden that attracts birds and butterflies.

Gain a better understanding of one of the saddest chapters in American history at Trail of Tears State Park, where nine of the 13 Cherokee Indian groups being relocated to Oklahoma crossed the Mississippi River during harsh winter conditions in 1838 and 1839. The park’s visitor center tells the tale of the thousands who died on the forced march, as well as the park’s many natural features. The park also has a cheerier side: shaded picnic sites, hiking and horse trails, opportunities to fish in both the Mississippi River and Lake Boutin, and majestic views of the Mississippi River and beyond. Its location right on the river makes the park one of the best places in Missouri for viewing migratory waterfowl.

Stepping on to the grounds of Watkins Woolen Mill State Historic Site is like stepping into 19^th century pastorale. Many of the buildings that Waltus Watkins spent half a century building – including an elegant home and a three-story woolen mill – have been preserved to give visitors a sense of life in the 1870s. The mill is the only 19^th century textile mill in the United States with its original machinery still intact. The site's visitor center offers an introduction to the Watkins family and their many business ventures.