Falling Spring
– Photo from Missouri Division of Tourism
Falling Spring is one of the more unique springs in the Ozarks. As you can see, the spring emerges from a small cave about twenty feet high in the bluff. In older times, there was a millrace that took the water to the overshot wheel in the gristmill, but the millrace is no longer there…..so the water does what it did in even older times…..falls to the stream below.
The stream, still dammed, forms a beautiful millpond. Then a few hundred feet below the millpond, it sinks underground again. Quite an example of Ozarks hydrology.
There’s a Forest Service picnic area at the site, but be prepared…..it’s still very remote. From Highway 19 south of Winona, you have to wind your way down a number of gravel roads. They’re marked, though, but rough.
stevewiegenstein 