(As an avid hiker, I loved getting this recent area parks assignment for West Newsmagazine!)
(Photo courtesy of Missouri State Parks)
Located less than two miles from Rockwood Valley Middle in Wildwood, Dr. Edmund A. Babler Memorial State Park is a merging point for suburban West St. Louis County and the rural beauty of Missouri.
“We have natural reasons and cultural reasons to visit,” said Babler Park Superintendent Christopher Ferre. “Specifically for Babler, it’s preserving a large swath of the forest and hillsides that are indicative of this part of Missouri. We call those ‘the river hills.’
“Overall, we’re just over 2,400 acres, so it’s a nice piece of greenscape to hold onto for parks. We’ve got over 16 miles of hiking trails which includes equestrian horse use trails. Of course, our ever-popular 75-site campground is kind of the main focus of the park along with our visitor center. There we have exhibits, our retail shop, and it’s the place for information for the whole park. Another key feature is our group camp we have down in part of the park. We call it the Outdoor Education Center.”
That latter amenity includes overnight cabins, a dining hall and an accessible pool. It was all designed to be barrier-free to suit any park-goer’s accessibility needs. It’s run in partnership with Parkway-Rockwood Community Education and can be rented out with cabins for a weekend or longer as in the case of summer camps.
(Photo by Elaine Collins)
The park is named after Edmund Babler, who was born in 1874. He died at age 55 and his legacy as a general surgeon was honored by his brother Jacob and younger brother Henry by purchasing a large swath of land to donate to the state of Missouri during the depression years. A bronze statue of Babler was added in 1938, unveiled at a dedication ceremony that drew a crowd of 3,000 people, according to the Missouri State Parks website. The size of the park increased greatly in future years.
“Of course, a lot of our Civilian Conservation Corps-built shelters are able to be reserved by families and friends,” Ferre said. “Also, the natural area we talked about is home to a good portion of Missouri’s flora and fauna that is found in this part of the state. We have a little bit of everything here.”
Babler State Park is also known for a few prime events.
“Chronologically, what we’re looking at first is a big Memorial Day weekend with various events throughout the park with crafts and programs, and we’re going to cap that off with an outdoor movie night,” Ferre said. “There’ll be a big screen to sit out in the field and watch a movie.”
That event will be followed by the offering of art classes with a good deal of painting. Ferree said people who register will be welcomed with a plethora of all the supplies needed to paint landscapes and also parts of the park. That’s because some of the classes will be held at the visitor center while others will be held outside in the park.
“Also, we will have our Halloween event known as the Howl-O-Ween,” Ferree said. “It’s always a highly-popular event capping off the season. On the campgrounds and the regular visitor center, we do crafts, trick-or-treating, costume contests, and campground contests. That happens the weekend before Halloween, which is Saturday the 24th. This is a totally free event with no reservation necessary and no limited capacity.”
Updates on events can be found on the Missouri State Parks website or the Babler’s Facebook page.
(Photo by Elaine Collins)
Ferree said Babler is ready to be fully open again for the full season, starting in April. Renovations have been done on 38 of its campsites, upgrading them to full hookups with concrete pads.
Another project in the works is upgrading the water distribution system, switching over from an independent well to a more modern system through Missouri American Water. That’s going to provide better water pressure across the site and consistency.
“The other key thing that’s kind of coming along is the lodge that sits back in the corner of the park,” Ferree said. “For the past few years, it was used as kind of an outpost by the Division of Youth Services for some of the kids they had in their care. But it’s come back into the state parks’ hands.
“We are in the process of designing a renovation of that lodge. It will be opened back to the public, which it has not been for a lot of years. That would include overnight stays and special events. We’re excited about that coming along once we complete the final design process.”
All Missouri parks are free to enter for all guests because of the Parks, Soils and Water Sales Tax, a one-tenth-of-one percent sales tax which comes up for a vote once every 10 years. The tax will be on the ballot again for the Nov. 3 General Election. According to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the tax costs the average resident about $10 a year. Half of those funds go to the parks, but that accounts for 80% of each park’s funding.
