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Washington County, Missouri
With just 762 square miles and
24,000 residents,
Washington
County is among
Missouri’s smaller regions. It was organized in August 1813
from Ste. Genevieve and named for George Washington. The
county seat is Potosi. The town was named after Potosi,
Bolivia, a silver mining town. “Potosi” is a South
American Indian word for “place of much noise", other
towns in the county are Caledonia, Irondale, Mineral Point.
Despite its size, the county is big on recreation. The
Berrryman Camp & Trail National Forest is a 24-mile loop
through the Mark Twain National Forest. A variety of Ozark
flora and fauna is featured throughout the trail. The trail
starts at Berryman Campground, the site of a Civilian
Conservation Corps Camp of the same name from 1937 until the
start of World War II.
Local legend has it that the Jesse James gang frequently
camped in a cave near the trail. Other challenging trails that
pass through the county are the Ozarks Trail, Trace Creek
Trail and Moses Austin Trail. The historic "Trail of
Tears", the route which carried the forced march of the
Cherokee Indians from the Southeastern United States to a
reservation in Oklahoma, passed through the county.
Other places of interest in the region:
Big
River
Courtois Creek
Hughes Mountain
Indian Creek
Little Indian Creek |
Lost
Creek
Mark Twain National Forest
Meramec State Park
Mineral Fork |
Washington
State Park
Washington State Park Hardwoods Natural Area |
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