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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