MISSOURI STATE PARKS

Battle of Athens State Historic Site is a place of peace and serenity. Its historic buildings, tree-studded landscape, and mile of Des Moines River frontage make the site a perfect place to hike, picnic or camp. But today’s peace belies the site’s history as the place where the northernmost battle fought west of the Mississippi occurred, when about 500 Union soldiers repelled nearly four times their number of pro-Southern State Guardsmen. The site includes interpretation and tours of the battlefield as well as a number of historic buildings, including one that was pierced by a cannonball during the battle.

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.

The cool waters of Forest Lake provide the centerpiece for Thousand Hills State Park, whose shores and broad savannas recall a time when northern Missouri was far less developed. The lake offers fishing, swimming and boating. the park offers hiking, mountain biking and abundant opportunities to see wildlife. An interpretive shelter helps visitors understand the petroglyphs left behind by the area's inhabitants more than 1,500 years ago. The park also offers campsites and cabins for overnight stays. 

NEW IN 2024: the park now offers a beach wheelchair that visitors with mobility issues can use during normal beach hours. 

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.