We have the largest park in the state of Missouri called Lake of the Ozarks State Park. We are also home to Ha Ha Tonka State Park, which has an old castle much like the castles of the 14th and 15th centuries in England and Scotland. A family from of Kansas City used it as a retreat for a number of years. Later the roof and all the inside walls burned in a fire, but the outside walls were preserved because they were limestone. There is a spring at the bottom of a bluff near where the castle sits and it has a lot of history associated with it. There are stories of criminals staying in the caves following the Civil War and there is a lot of history surrounding the Osage Indians. Modern legends talk about Ha Ha Tonka meaning "laughing waters" because of the sound you hear when you stand at the top of the bluff and hear the water rippling over the rocks down below. I knew a gentleman who was quite a scholar on the Osage Indians and he says Ha Ha Tonka had to do with a large meeting place and that it was the place they would bring their hunt in the fall to prepare everything for winter. The state bought the property because of the spring and natural bridge, which was actually at one time used for a roadway. It's the most visited spot at Lake of the Ozarks.
