Big Spring
One of the largest springs in the United States, pouring an average of 289 million gallons of clear blue water a day into the Current River, four miles south of Van Buren.
Best Places to Visit in the Ozarks for Photographers
The Ozarks reward a camera: spring water the color of glass, limestone bluffs, old mills, and rivers that fog at sunrise. These are the places in the guide where photographers consistently get the shot, with the access and timing details that matter on each place page.
Big Spring Historic District
A National Register historic district of stone and timber buildings the Civilian Conservation Corps built at Big Spring in the 1920s and 1930s: a dining lodge, cabins, and a museum, closed for restoration but walkable today.
Carter County Courthouse
Missouri's only cobblestone-covered courthouse, built in 1871 and reclad by the WPA in 1936, stands vacant on its Main Street square in Van Buren, still the town's gathering ground for tree lightings and the Festival of Lights.