Lake of the Ozarks State Park | |
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Location | Camden and Miller counties, Missouri, United States |
Nearest city | Osage Beach, Missouri |
Coordinates | 38°05′53″N92°37′01″W / 38.09806°N 92.61694°W [1] |
Area | 17,626.55 acres (71.3321 km2) [2] |
Elevation | 771 ft (235.0 m) [1] |
Designation | Missouri state park |
Established | 1946 [3] |
Visitors | 1,347,337(in 2022) [4] |
Administrator | Missouri Department of Natural Resources |
Website | Lake of the Ozarks State Park |
Lake of the Ozarks State Park is a Missouri state park on the Grand Glaize Arm of the Lake of the Ozarks and is the largest state park in the state. [5] This is also the most popular state park in Missouri, with over 2.5 million visitations in 2017. [6]
The park includes 85 miles (137 km) of shoreline on the lake (which has a total of 1,150 miles (1,850 km) of shoreline—mostly privately owned); two swimming beaches with imported sand, 12 trails, the Ozark Caverns, a boat launch, and the Lee C. Fine Memorial Airport which has a 6,500-foot (2,000 m) runway. In addition there are campsites and cabins within the park.
One of the most famous aspects of the park is Party Cove which is a rowdy gathering spot that has been featured on the Playboy Channel and the front page of the New York Times Travel Section.
The park's initial development began in 1934 with creation of a Recreational Demonstration Area (RDA), one of 46 nationally and three in Missouri established by the National Park Service to convert sub-marginal farm lands to recreational purposes. Missouri's largest RDA, now known as Lake of the Ozarks State Park, was established three years after the impoundment of the Osage River at Bagnell Dam. Three Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps were busy over sixteen camp periods constructing group camps, administrative buildings, roads, a landscaped public beach, and other facilities. In 1946, all RDAs were donated by the federal government to the state park system. [7]
The following CCC-related buildings and national historic districts were individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 under their respective NRIS number and are included in the Emergency Conservation Work (E.C.W.) Architecture in Missouri State Parks, 1933–1942, Thematic Resources: [8]
Crowder State Park is a public recreation area of 1,912 acres (774 ha) surrounding 18-acre (7.3 ha) Crowder Lake near Trenton in Grundy County, Missouri, USA. The state park and lake are named after Maj. General Enoch H. Crowder, who was born and raised near the park.
Meramec State Park is a public recreation area located near Sullivan, Missouri, about 60 miles from St. Louis, along the Meramec River. The park has diverse ecosystems such as hardwood forests and glades. There are over 40 caves located throughout the park, the bedrock is dolomite. The most famous is Fisher Cave, located near the campgrounds. The park borders the Meramec Conservation Area.
Shakamak State Park is a state park in Indiana, United States. It is located 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Terre Haute, Indiana.
Raccoon Creek State Park is a 7,572-acre (3,064 ha) Pennsylvania state park on Raccoon Creek in Hanover and Independence townships in Beaver County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park is about 30 miles (48 km) from the city of Pittsburgh, near Hookstown. Raccoon Creek State Park is easily accessed from Pennsylvania Route 18 and U.S Routes 30 and 22. The park offers numerous activities such as hiking, biking, cross-country skiing, camping, hunting, swimming, fishing, and boating, the last three at the 101-acre (41 ha) "Raccoon Lake."
Scenic State Park is a Minnesota state park near Bigfork in Itasca County. It encompasses 3,936 acres (1,593 ha) of virgin pine forests that surround Sandwick Lake and Coon Lake. It also includes portions of Lake of the Isles, Tell Lake, Cedar Lake, and Pine Lake. Established in 1921, the Ojibwe tribe had previously used the area for hunting. The park has places for camping, hiking, swimming, fishing, and canoeing.
J.W. Wells State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of Michigan. The 678-acre (2.74 km2) park is located in Menominee County on the shore of Lake Michigan's Green Bay, just south of Cedar River. It is on M-35, roughly midway between Menominee and Escanaba. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.
Montauk State Park is a public recreation area occupying nearly 3,000 acres (1,200 ha) at the headwaters of the Current River, fifteen miles (24 km) southwest of Salem, Missouri. The state park contains a fish hatchery and is noted for its rainbow and brown trout angling. It was acquired in 1926. The park has several natural springs including Montauk Spring with a daily average flow of 53 million gallons of water.
Washington State Park is a public recreation area covering 2,147 acres (869 ha) in Washington County in the central eastern part of the state of Missouri. It is located on Highway 21 about 14 miles (23 km) northeast of Potosi or 7 miles (11 km) southwest of De Soto on the eastern edge of the Ozarks. The state park is noted for its Native American rock carvings and for its finely crafted stonework from the 1930s.
Arrow Rock State Historic Site is an open-air museum encompassing a geographic formation and a portion of the village of Arrow Rock, Missouri. The park is part of the Arrow Rock Historic District, a National Historic Landmark, and commemorates the history of the area as a key stop on the Santa Fe Trail.
Sam A. Baker State Park is a public recreation area encompassing 5,323 acres (2,154 ha) in the Saint Francois Mountains region of the Missouri Ozarks. The state park offers fishing, canoeing, swimming, camping, and trails for hiking and horseback riding. The visitor and nature center is housed in a historic building that was originally constructed as a stable in 1934.
Bennett Spring State Park is a public recreation area located in Bennett Springs, Missouri, twelve miles (19 km) west of Lebanon on Highway 64 in Dallas and Laclede counties. It is centered on the spring that flows into the Niangua River and gives the park its name. The spring averages 100 million gallons of daily flow. The park offers fly fishing, camping, canoeing, hiking, and other activities.
Cuivre River State Park is a public recreation area covering more than 6,400 acres (2,600 ha) northeast of the city of Troy in the Lincoln Hills region of northeastern Missouri, United States. The state park's rugged landscapes range from native grasslands and savannas to limestone bluffs overlooking forested hills. The park offers an extensive system of hiking trails plus swimming and camping facilities and is managed by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. It encompasses the Lincoln Hills Natural Area and two designated wild areas: Big Sugar Creek and Northwoods.
Laurel Hill State Park is a 3,935-acre (1,592 ha) Pennsylvania state park in Jefferson and Middlecreek Townships, Somerset County, Pennsylvania in the United States. Laurel Hill Lake is a 63-acre (25 ha) man-made lake with a dam that was constructed during the Great Depression by the young men of CCC camps NP-5-PA and SP-15-PA. Laurel Hill State Park is 8 miles (13 km) from Interstate 76 just off Pennsylvania Route 31 near Bakersville and on Pennsylvania Route 653 near Trent.
Backbone State Park is Iowa's oldest state park, dedicated in 1919. Located in the valley of the Maquoketa River, it is approximately three miles (5 km) south of Strawberry Point in Delaware County. It is named for a narrow and steep ridge of bedrock carved by a loop of the Maquoketa River originally known as the Devil's Backbone. The initial 1,200 acres (490 ha) were donated by E.M. Carr of Lamont, Iowa. Backbone Lake Dam, a relatively low dam built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s, created Backbone Lake. The CCC constructed a majority of trails and buildings which make up the park.
Van Meter State Park is a public recreation area on the Missouri River in Saline County, Missouri. The state park consists of 1,105 acres (447 ha) of hills, ravines, fresh water marsh, fens, and bottomland and upland forests in an area known as "the Pinnacles." The park has several archaeological sites, a cultural center, and facilities for camping, hiking, and fishing. It is managed by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
Knob Noster State Park is a public recreation area covering 3,934 acres (1,592 ha) in Johnson County, Missouri, in the United States. The state park bears the name of the nearby town of Knob Noster, which itself is named for one of two small hills or "knobs" that rise up in an otherwise flat section of Missouri. Noster is a Latin adjective meaning "our"—therefore, Knob Noster translates as "our hill." A local Indian belief stated that the hills were "raised up as monuments to slain warriors." The park offers year-round camping, hiking, and fishing and is managed by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
Mark Twain State Park is a public recreation area encompassing 2,775 acres (1,123 ha) on Mark Twain Lake in Monroe County, Missouri. The state park offers water recreation, hiking trails, and campgrounds. It is adjacent to the Mark Twain Birthplace State Historic Site.
Roaring River State Park is a public recreation area covering of 4,294 acres (1,738 ha) eight miles (13 km) south of Cassville in Barry County, Missouri. The state park offers trout fishing on the Roaring River, hiking on seven different trails, and the seasonally open Ozark Chinquapin Nature Center.
Lake Ahquabi State Park is a state park in Warren County, Iowa, United States, featuring a 115-acre (47 ha) reservoir. Ahquabi means "resting place" in the Fox language. The park is six miles (10 km) south of Indianola and 22 miles (35 km) south of Des Moines. Three sections of the park were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.
Architects of the National Park Service are the architects and landscape architects who were employed by the National Park Service (NPS) starting in 1918 to design buildings, structures, roads, trails and other features in the United States National Parks. Many of their works are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and a number have also been designated as National Historic Landmarks.