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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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