Franklin County: Rivers, Museums, and Route 66

If you’re looking for a hotel in Franklin County, you can plan your stay around the themes that interest you most: river landscapes, local history, or museums with a wide range of focuses. Offerings range from fishing opportunities and seasonal cave tours to exhibits on local history, railroads, and corncob pipes. The places below offer ideas for which aspects of the region you might want to explore on your trip.

Rivers, Fishing, and Cave Tours

At Robertsville State Park, the Meramec River forms the northern and western boundaries, while Calvey Creek marks the eastern boundary. Fishing is available both on the Meramec River and at a small pond near the park office. Meramec State Park offers opportunities in Franklin County for camping, fishing, and rafting on the scenic Meramec River. These are different ways to incorporate the river into your trip planning.

Meramec State Park also offers cave tours led by naturalists. They take place seasonally; check the dates before your visit. Meramec Caverns describes itself as Missouri’s largest commercial cave. The listed destinations therefore bring river activities and cave experiences together without implying that a park tour and the Caverns are the same place.

Museums and Local History

The Washington Historical Society Museum spreads its exhibits across two floors. They cover the history of Washington and its immediate surroundings. The museum also holds historical and genealogical paper records. Visitors interested in the town’s development or family history will therefore find both exhibits and materials in paper form here.

The Missouri Meerschaum Corn Cob Pipe Museum is located at the corner of Front Street and Cedar Street in Washington, overlooking the Missouri River. It presents 156 years of corncob pipe history. Staff explain how local resident Henry Tibbe began making these pipes in Washington. Its focus is therefore quite different from the historical and genealogical collections at the other Washington museum.

The Red Cedar Inn on Historic Route 66 serves as a museum, visitor center, children’s museum, and gift shop. In Pacific, Route 66 runs through the center of town. Both details give the route a historical and local connection to the region, without referring to the same place.

The St. Clair Historical Museum is housed in an old firehouse. One room recreates St. Clair’s Main Street as it appeared around 1917. The museum also features a 100-year local mining exhibit on lead, iron, barite, and copper. A reconstructed streetscape and mining are thus presented as two distinct ways to explore local history.

Railroads, Plants, and Events

The Iron Spike Model Train Museum displays model trains in different scales and from different eras, and explores the history of model railroading. The children’s train experience area includes books, videos, a wooden play table, and a LEGO station. The research library contains 20,000 volumes on model railroading, railroad history, personal life stories, and maps. The John Colter Museum and Visitor Center in New Haven has a different focus: its exhibits feature Native American artifacts.

The Whitmire Wildflower Garden covers 10 acres and showcases the beauty of Missouri’s native plants. The Purina Event Center hosts indoor and outdoor dog and cat shows. Alongside museums and river destinations, the topics described therefore also include a garden and a venue for animal shows.

Getting to Washington

Amtrak offers daily service from St. Louis and Kansas City to Washington’s train station and visitor center. Schedules may change; check the service before traveling. You can plan your arrival separately from your outings and first determine whether Washington suits your stay as a place to arrive.

Discover more destinations: Sullivan, Pacific, Saint Clair, New Haven, Villa Ridge, Union, Linn County, Andrew County.

View the broader travel guide: Missouri.