Little Dixie Lake and Missouri State Capital

Little Dixie Lake, Columbia MO

On my way to Jefferson City, MO, I was a sign for the Little Dixie Lake Conservation Area. The sign said it was nine miles off the highway, so I decided to stop by and see it. Little Dixie Lake is near Kingdom City, MO (a lot of odd city names going West in Missouri). There are 22 ponds used for fishery research as well as the lake, created by damming up Owl Creek. The lake was called little Dixie because this area of Missouri was settled by people from Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina, who were loyal to the South. The area has a feel not unlike Appalachia. The Ozark region does not exactly resemble the Smoky Mountains but is perhaps more like the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee, west of Knoxville. I arrived a Little Dixie Lake just before dusk and it was a nice diversion from driving. Unfortunately, I arrived too late to hike around lake.

Map of the Little Dixie Conservation Area (click for larger image)

Once I arrived in Jefferson City and before turning-in to the hotel for the evening, I drove to the Missouri State Capital. The capital building was larger than I expected it to be. The city is named after Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States. The capital building overlooks the area that Lewis and Clark passed by on their westward journey. You can read all about Jefferson City in Wikipedia.

Capital Building at Dusk

Capital Building with Monument to Jefferson

St. Peter Catholic Church in Historic Capital District

(across from Missouri State Capital)

Description of St. Peter Catholic Church from Waymarking.com:

The St. Peter Catholic Church was constructed 1881-1883. The first Mass in the church was celebrated Feb. 2, 1883 and it was dedicated on Aug. 12, 1883. The brick church designed Adolph Druiding in a German Gothic Revival style and constructed by Fred H. Binder with 800,000 bricks donated by G.H. Dulle. The church is 173 and one half feet in length, 60 feet in width and has a seating capacity of 700. The clock tower rises to a height of 170 feet. The tower contains four bells cast by the Struckstede Foundry with an aggregate weight of 8,000 pounds, purchased at a cost of $1,354 and dedicated to St. Peter (55 inches in diameter), St. Joseph (46 inches), The Sacred Heart of Jesus (34 inches), The Blessed Virgin Mary (28 inches). The clock in the tower was installed in 1888.

The church served as the first cathedral for the Diocese of Jefferson City after its founding in 1956. Cathedral of St. Peter served in that capacity until Christmas Eve 1968 when cathedral's jurisdiction was transferred to St. Joseph Parish.