Catch Up Post – Wallace State Park and Watkins Woolen Mill

May 5, 2019 P-TParaD Comments 1 comment

We went to Wallace State Park and Watkins Woolen Mill Historic Site and State Park in October 2018. This trip slipped through the cracks on documenting our weekends. We enjoyed the trip so much, it was worth the effort to go back a few months and capture our fun.

In October 2018, we had owned Patty the Trailer only a few weeks. We took her on a trip to Indian Cave State Park in Nebraska already, but we wanted to take another trip to be confident before we really went on the road. With some quick exploration, we found Wallace State Park and Watkins Woolen Mill just outside of Kansas City as a great place to spend a weekend nearby.

12 October 2018 – Home to Wallace State Park

Wallace State Park is a short drive Northeast of the Kansas City area. We found our campsite and got to setting up. The kids enjoyed some bike riding and bopping around the campground. It was a bit chilly, so a fire was a must. They enjoyed some s’mores and family time around the fire. We went to bed pretty early to get out to explore on the next day.

13 October 2018 – Exploring Watkins Woolen Mill and Wallace State Park

Everyone got out of bed and moving early so we could arrive at Watkins Woolen Mill as the park opened for the day. The park is split into two different areas, a historic site focused on the homestead and mill built by Waltus Watkins in the mid-1800s and the other a state park with recreation opportunities. We focused on the historic site this day and we’ll have to come back for the recreation side soon.

The visitor center has interesting history about the Watkins family and the history of wool production. The park also has guided tours of the house and the mill for small fees. The tours were definitely the highlight of the visit. Both the home and the mill are well preserved and the tour guides were both quite knowledgeable and engaging.

Both of the kids were interested in the way of life in the mid-1800s. They (and honestly the adults) were quite impressed with the ingenuity and entrepreneurship of Watkins. From dragging the boiler from a wrecked riverboat to the mill to run the machinery to all the attempts he tried with agriculture to make the farm self-sufficient, he was a busy man. We spent the whole morning walking and learning about this small piece of Missouri history.

The name of this machine escapes me, but one guy controlled this monstrosity to move the yarn from the large spools onto dowel rods by moving it back and forth on the rails on the floor.

We drove back to the campground and had lunch. Then we set out to explore Wallace State Park. The park has some nice trails and a lake to enjoy. We set out to hike a few trails around the lake. We really enjoyed the views and our time as a family.

Once we came out of the woods and got down by the lake, our time alone somewhat faded. There were about 10 or so groups taking wedding/senior/engagement/??? pictures and not exactly sharing the trail that well. That didn’t spoil our fun, but I’m sure the kids laughing, jumping, and being kids may have spoiled their pictures. After our hiking, we got back and spent the rest of the day in the campground.

The boardwalk on the Old Quarry Trail through some marsh near the lake

Such a pretty area and Bub really had fun hiking around the lake

These are the moments are the reason we RV

Once the day wound down, we had dinner and the kids were spent. They didn’t want to go out and play anymore. So we folded the dinette and they watched a movie in their jammies. They were officially hooked on camper life.

14 October 2018 – Leaving Wallace State Park

The kids slept in a bit and we enjoyed a slow morning and a nice breakfast. The kids went out riding bikes again while we started packing up. As usual, the kids didn’t want to leave. No one wanted to, but our part-time trip to paradise had to come to an end.