THE OLD STAGE COACH STOP

One day while CD and I were out road trippin' this past summer on the old Route 66 highway, we drove to Waynesville. It was a beautiful day for taken photo's and checkin' out history. Waynesville has a lot of that goin' on for it. It was a hotbed durin' the Civil War.

Waynesville is located in scenic Roubldoux Creek Valley, and it became the county seat of Pulaski County in 1843.

Pulaski County was organized in 1833. It was once roamed by Indians and French trappers. The county is part of land surrendered by the Osage in 1808. Southern pioneers were early settlers. They were attracted by the counties many springs, wooded hills, caves and the Big Piney and Gasconade Rivers.

The town of Waynesville was a stage stop on the St. Louis to Springfield Road. This road was later called Wire Road for the telegraph line strung durin' the Civil War. This road was a former Indian trail and traveled by French explorers in 1719. Cherokee Indians camped here on their 1837 'Trail of Tears' removal to Oklahoma.

Here's one of the old trestle bridges on the Mother Road, purdy neat, huh?


This is the old Stage Coach stop in Waynesville.
It was originally built of logs in pioneer days. Used as a stage coach stop and a tavern of rest for travelers headin' to the west.

In 1862, during the Civil War, it was used as a hospital.

After the war ended, it was remodeled and again used as a hotel for another half century.

We were there on a Sunday and everything was closed down but I looked through one of the windows, the whole time CD is tellin' me I'm gonna set off an alarm and we are just across the street from the police station. He was thinkin' about drivin' off and leavin' me when I went around back and rattled some doorknobs.

He just about had a conniption fit when I went up the stairs (they were roped off) and wanted him to take a picture of me (HE WOULDN"T). You'd think he'd be use to me draggin' him into tight spots after all these years. But I was able to get a decent picture lookin through the window. It shows the old log walls.

This is the current Courthouse and is a really neat and beautiful buildin'. This one was built in 1904.

I just love this bell tower.

Durin' the Civil War the Confederate Flag was raised at the Courthouse in the spring of 1861. Not this one, the courthouse buildin' before. In May 1861, the Union soldiers came to town. On June 7, 1862, the Confederate flag was cut down. I bet that was a long turbulent and bloody year. Union troops built a fort on a hill overlookin' the courthouse square to guard the military supply road to Springfield. The county suffered guerrilla raids and skirmishes for the rest of the war.

The Civil War brought about fierce division among the people of Pulaski County. Neighbor against neighbor, brother against brother and even members of the same household would disagree.

The end of the war found the county in chaos. Bushwhackers were runnin' rampant.

Prejudices and hatred were finally put aside and reconstruction began. After the war, immigrants began to come to this part of Missouri to settle. Most of those settlers were from southeast Kentucky, Tennessee, east and West Virginia.

I just love this old street clock that was out front of the courthouse.

This buildin' reminds me of some I've seen in California.

They've add on in recent years, but I really like the old part.

This is just beautiful country out here and with all the history connected to it, very interestin' to check out. I hope you will get a chance sometime to come to this part of the Ozarks, you won't be disappointed.

Rebel