Castlewood State Park in the St. Louis area spans 1,818 acres along both sides of the Meramec River and preserves the site of Lincoln Beach, a resort town that thrived from about 1915 into the 1940s. Especially during the 1920s, trains brought large summer crowds to a landscape filled with dance halls, stores, and clubs. After World War II, changing leisure habits and easier automobile travel led to the resort’s decline, while flooding gradually destroyed much of it. Created as a state park in 1974, the area is now known for river recreation and trails, but also for a dangerous river history that includes repeated drownings and a fatal 2006 church outing.

Twin Oaks, Missouri · USA