The Visit Ozarks Guide

Your Guide to the Ozarks

See Van Buren, Missouri

One of the largest springs in America, a river running right past Main Street, and two centuries of history, all within about four miles of each other. This day takes them in the order that makes them work: the spring in the morning light, downtown at midday, and the river for the hot part of the afternoon.

Open this route in Google Maps

Before you go

  • Pack a picnic. Lunch is the picnic shelter at Van Buren Riverfront Park, and the day is built around it.
  • Bring swimsuits and towels. The last stop is a river beach, and on a warm day you will want to get in.
  • Check Current River levels before river time. The National Park Service posts river levels and closures, and high water can close the beaches and ramps.
  • Fall is this day's best season. Morning mist and fall color at Big Spring, and the Forest Service names fall among the best seasons for the Songbird Trail. The route works any time of year.

The day, stop by stop

  1. Big Spring

    9:00 AM · Allow 1 hour 30 minutes

    Big Spring pouring turquoise water past moss covered boulders at the base of the bluff
    NPS Photo by Patty Wheatley-Bishop / National Park Service

    Start at the headline. Big Spring pours an average of 289 million gallons of clear blue water a day into the Current River, and early morning is when it earns the trip: mist hanging over the spring branch, soft light on the bluff, and the grounds still quiet. The spring is visible right from the parking area, and the wheelchair accessible walkway takes you to the water's edge.

    With the full hour and a half, walk a stretch of the Slough Trail as well. You are parked at the end of Missouri Highway 103, four miles south of town, and there is no entrance fee.

    Full guide to Big Spring

  2. Big Spring Historic District

    10:45 AM · Allow 45 minutes

    A coursed stone Civilian Conservation Corps building beside the walkway at Big Spring Lodge
    National Park Service

    You do not move the car for this one. A third of a mile west of the spring stand the stone and timber buildings the Civilian Conservation Corps built here in the 1920s and 1930s: the dining lodge, the cabins, and the museum, now a National Register historic district. The buildings are closed while a renovation wraps up, but the grounds, walkways, and exteriors are the stop: some of the finest CCC stonework in Missouri, in a hollow below the bluff.

    Walk the Spring Branch Trail back toward the spring on your way out, and look for the Chubb Hollow picnic shelter from 1935 as you go.

    Full guide to Big Spring Historic District

  3. Carter County Courthouse

    12:00 PM · Allow 30 minutes

    The cobblestone Carter County Courthouse photographed in October 2015, before the 2017 flood; the building is now vacant and its interior closed
    Kbh3rd, own work, via Wikimedia Commons

    Drive back into town and park on Main Street. The Carter County Courthouse is the only courthouse in Missouri covered in cobblestones: built in 1871, then reclad by the WPA in 1936 with stones that give the whole building its rounded, river rock look. The county moved out after the 2017 flood and the interior is closed, but the square around it is still Van Buren's gathering ground, and the building is the town's landmark.

    Thirty minutes is plenty to walk the square and read the building from every side. Lunch is a few minutes away at the foot of Main Street.

    Full guide to Carter County Courthouse

  4. Van Buren Riverfront Park

    12:45 PM · Allow 1 hour 30 minutes

    Lunch, at Van Buren's own river park: one acre at the foot of Main Street with a picnic shelter, the town's boat ramp and canoe launch, and swimming areas on the Current River. Spread the picnic out under the shelter, watch the boats and floaters launch, and let anybody who wants to get their feet wet before the afternoon.

    The park is open 4 AM to 10 PM, so there is no rush. This is the day's pause before the shaded part of the afternoon.

    Full guide to Van Buren Riverfront Park

  5. Songbird Trail

    2:30 PM · Allow 1 hour

    The afternoon walk, chosen because it is shaded. The Songbird Trail is a half-mile Forest Service loop inside Watercress Recreation Area, starting past Watercress Spring between campsites 11 and 12. It climbs a hillside to Civil War earthworks with a view over the Current River, passes a small cave on a rocky bank, and loops back down.

    One honest note: the trail is unsurfaced and climbs at a 10 to 12 percent grade, so it is a real little climb rather than a stroll. Good shoes, and take water. The spring at the start is cold and clear year round.

    Full guide to Songbird Trail

  6. Watercress Recreation Area

    3:45 PM · Allow the rest of the afternoon

    End the day in the water, without moving the car. Watercress is the Forest Service's in-town river access: a double-lane boat launch, a boardwalk, and concrete stair entries down to a river beach. Swim, wade, fish from the bank, or just sit at one of the picnic sites and watch the river go by.

    There is no set end to this stop. When the light starts going and the air cools, you are a half mile from downtown Van Buren and done: spring, history, and river, all in one day.

    Full guide to Watercress Recreation Area

Planning more time around Van Buren, Missouri? Start witheverything to do in Van Buren, or browse all itineraries as more routes are added.