Dedication of Jim Morris
State Park, Oct. 8, 2005

 
Welcome Presentation Ribbon-cutting Overlook Beech tree
Welcome Presentation Ribbon Overlook Beech

Press Release and GPS coordinates (below)

Return to First Page

 You are visitor number  [VISITOR COUNTER]  since Oct. 8, 2005. 
Oct. 8, 2005. Photos © Copyright 2005 by Hal Miller
Photos taken with Olympus C-2100UZ® and edited with Adobe PhotoShop® 5.5.

 
(Press Release)
Morris State Park is Dedicated Oct. 8, 2005

Jefferson City, Mo., Oct. 8, 2005 - On Oct. 8, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources dedicated a new state park that preserves a unique area in Missouri's Bootheel. The ceremony was held at Morris State Park, which is located near Campbell.

Directions: from Malden, go west 4 miles on Hwy J, and south 1 mile on Hwy WW, past Elder Cemetery to Bader Peach Shed. At park sign, go east to visitor parking. GPS coordinates are:

   36.55333 (36° 33' 12") N    90.04482 (90° 02' 41") W  

The featured guest at the ceremony was Jim D. Morris of Springfield, who donated the 161-acre park to the department. Other speakers include Doyle Childers, Department of Natural Resources Director, and Senator Rob Mayer.

Morris State Park is located in an area of southeast Missouri known as Crowley's Ridge, a unique geologic formation of low hills in the Mississippi Rover floodplain. Crowley's Ridge has a distinct natural history unique for Missouri. The park preserves a section of this landscape and offers visitors an opportunity to experience it.

A two-mile loop hiking trail named Beech Tree Trail offers a glimpse of the park and the forests of Crowley's Ridge, including beech, red buckeye, southern red oak, and sweet gum trees along with the prickly but colorfully-flowered devil's walking stick. Interpreters gave hikes on the day of the dedication; a self-guiding trail brochure provides information as well. The park also contains an overlook and exhibits that interpret the area's natural and cultural significance.

Development at the park was made possible by the one-tenth-of-one percent parks-and-soils sales tax, which was approved by Missouri voters.

This day-use park is open from dawn to dusk and is located five miles north of Campbell on Route WW in Dunklin County. For more information about the park, contact Hunter-Dawson State Historic Site at (573) 748-5340 or the Department of Natural Resources toll-free at 1-800-334-6946, or visit www.mostateparks.com.    To Top of Page