National parks in Missouri

Sunset picture with high vantage point overlooking river with fall colors and sun setting in distanc

100ESSENTIAL Brock Davis

National Scenic Riverways · MO

Ozark National Scenic Riverways

Missouri's Ozark National Scenic Riverways is the rare free park that genuinely earns a perfect breadth score.

Men in reproduction uniforms talk around a campfire

88ESSENTIAL Charles Dischinger

National Battlefield · MO

Wilson's Creek National Battlefield

Wilson's Creek punches well above its size.

View of house with fence. Autumn colored leaves on trees

78EXCELLENT NPS Photo

National Historic Site · MO

Ulysses S Grant National Historic Site

White Haven is a rare Civil War site that resists easy hero worship.

Small waterfall with brown rocks and green moss

74EXCELLENT NPS Photo / Alex Wiles

National Historic Trail · IA

Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail

At nearly 4,900 miles across 16 states, this is less a destination than a framework for road-tripping American history.

Bronze status of young George Washington Carver atop a large boulder, on the Carver trail.

71EXCELLENT NPS Photo

National Monument · MO

George Washington Carver National Monument

This small but genuinely moving free monument in Diamond, Missouri honors one of America's most consequential scientists on the actual land where he grew up.

The Gateway Arch and Old Courthouse with a row of pink blooming cherry trees in front

66WORTH IT NPS photo/Jennifer Clark

National Park · MO

Gateway Arch National Park

Gateway Arch is an urban national park that punches above its weight on history and spectacle but below it on outdoor adventure.

A white canvas wagon sits in front of a large rock buttress with mountains in the distance.

62WORTH IT NPS Photo

National Historic Trail · CA

California National Historic Trail

This is not a park you visit so much as a history you inhabit across a 5,000-mile corridor.

A wagon swale is cut deep into limestone rock with trees in background.

62WORTH IT NPS photo

National Historic Trail · ID

Oregon National Historic Trail

The Oregon National Historic Trail is less a destination than a 2,000-plus-mile framework for understanding westward migration across six states.

Warm light from the setting sun gives an orange glow to a rock bluff overlooking a grassland.

62WORTH IT NPS Photo

National Historic Trail · CO

Santa Fe National Historic Trail

The Santa Fe National Historic Trail is less a single destination than a 900-mile argument for slowing down across five states.

A rider in a red vest on a horse in a grassy patch surrounded by sagebrush with clouds in the sky.

61WORTH IT NPS photo

National Historic Trail · CA

Pony Express National Historic Trail

The Pony Express Trail is less a destination than a framework for a road trip across the American interior.

large white house, green lawn, two trees in front

59WORTH IT NPS

National Historic Trail · AL

Trail Of Tears National Historic Trail

This is not a park you visit in a single afternoon but a 9-state corridor of conscience stretching from the Cherokee homelands of the Southeast to Oklahoma.

Frame house made of wood with U.S. and French flags flying on front porch.

57WORTH IT NPS/Nick Sacco

National Historical Park · MO

Ste. Geneviève National Historical Park

Ste.

47NICHE NPS Photo/Matt Turner

National Historic Site · MO

Harry S Truman National Historic Site

This is a genuinely intimate presidential site, not a grand monument.

A cross and bell on the roof alcove of a white stucco church.

24NICHE NPS Photo

National Historic Trail · MO

Butterfield Overland National Historic Trail

This is not a park you visit so much as a history you trace.