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Recreation and Places of Interest
Missouri has much to offer the tourist. It has
scenic diversity as well as a colorful history.
Some towns retain their early architecture. Sainte
Genevieve has the largest collection of French
Creole architecture in the United States. Altenburg,
Westphalia, Hermann, and other small towns along
the Missouri River still retain much of their
original German character.
Principal attractions include the two largest
cities—Kansas City and St. Louis—and
the Ozark region, with its many scenic gorges,
caverns, and large reservoirs, which provide
ample opportunities for recreational activities.
Cities in the Ozarks of particular interest to
tourists include Branson, which offers country-music
concerts by a variety of performers, and Silver
Dollar City, which is a replica of a late-19th
century Ozark mining town.
National Parks
The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Historic
Site, extending along the St. Louis riverfront,
includes the Gateway Arch, which has a sweeping
curve that reaches 192 m (630 ft) above the city
and commemorates the westward expansion of the
United States; the Old Courthouse, site of the
Dred Scott slave trial; and the Lisa Warehouse,
the oldest building in the city. The George Washington
Carver National Monument, near Diamond in southwest
Missouri, marks the birthplace of the famous
scientist. Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield,
near Springfield, preserves the site of an important
American Civil War battle for control of Missouri.
The Harry S. Truman Home and the Truman Library
and Museum, both in Independence, contain exhibits
on the life and career of the 33rd president.
The Mark Twain National Forest provides recreation
areas and wildlife refuges in southern Missouri.
The Ozark National Scenic Riverways, the first
national riverway, protects the free-flowing
Current and Jacks Fork rivers and a number of
caves and springs.
State Parks and Forests
Many of the natural attractions of Missouri
are concentrated in the Ozarks. There, state
parks have been developed around such scenic
features as caves, giant springs, rugged canyons,
creeks, and large constructed lakes. Scattered
throughout the state are others of the state’s
79 parks and numerous state forests. Among the
historic landmarks are the birthplace of Mark
Twain in Mark Twain State Park, east of Paris;
the Arrow Rock Tavern at Arrow Rock State Historical
Site, near Marshall; the Anderson Home, which
served as a field hospital for the Union army
in the Battle of Lexington in the Civil War,
at Lexington; and the boyhood home of General
John J. Pershing, at Laclede.
Museums
The St. Louis Art Museum and Kansas City’s
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art both house excellent
collections, and the museum of the Missouri Historical
Society in St. Louis displays a notable collection
relating to Charles Lindbergh’s solo transatlantic
flight in 1927 in his monoplane, The Spirit of
St. Louis. In the state capitol building in Jefferson
City are a large museum and a mural collection
on the history and resources of the state. The
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City
houses a collection of memorabilia related to
the black baseball league that played while baseball
was segregated.
Other Places to Visit
The Harry S. Truman birthplace in Lamar honors
the former president. The Pony Express Stables
and the home where Jesse James died may be visited
in Saint Joseph. Mark Twain’s boyhood home
is now a museum in Hannibal. In Saint Charles
the house that served as Missouri’s first
capitol is open to visitors. Among the many limestone
caverns in the Ozarks is Marvel Cave, where a
waterfall pours over a group of limestone formations.
The Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, also
called Shaw’s Garden, has a large Japanese
garden and the Climatron, a geodesic dome. In
Fulton is the Winston Churchill Memorial, which
commemorates Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech
of 1946 and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989
with a portion of the wall.
Source: MSN
Encarta: Online Encyclopedia |
