Alcove Springs, in northeastern Kansas near the Big Blue River and Independence Crossing, was a prominent Oregon Trail campsite valued for its dependable spring, small waterfall, and shelter beneath a limestone cliff. Westbound emigrants named the place and stopped there in large numbers, including the Donner Party, whose inscription in the limestone still survives in weathered form. Nearby wagon swales and a memorial to Sarah Keyes, a Donner Party member who died there in 1846, underscore its ties to overland travel, though her grave site is unknown. Its enduring landscape makes it one of the most tangible surviving places connected to migration on the Oregon Trail.