Shepherd of the Hills State Park is an undeveloped public recreation area covering in Taney County,

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. The

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

is closed pending public input on future uses of the land. It was one of three new parks announced by Governor

Jay Nixon Jeremiah Wilson "Jay" Nixon (born February 13, 1956) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 55th Governor of Missouri from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected to the governorship in 2008 and reele ...

in December 2016. It shares a border with the Ruth and Paul Henning Conservation Area and is traversed by more than two miles of Roark Creek, including a stretch of the three-mile-long East Fork Roark Creek. The site includes a

one-room schoolhouse One-room schools, or schoolhouses, were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain. In most rural and s ...

that served the former community of Garber. On May 4, 2022, Missouri State Parks announced that park's name will be changed from Ozark Mountain State Park to Shepherd of the Hills State Park. The name change honors

Harold Bell Wright Harold Bell Wright (May 4, 1872 – May 24, 1944) was a best-selling American writer of fiction, essays, and nonfiction. Although mostly forgotten or ignored after the middle of the 20th century, he had a very successful career; he is said to hav ...

's popular novel '' The Shepherd of the Hills'', which is set in the vicinity of the park.

References

External links

Ozark Mountain State Park
Missouri Department of Natural Resources
Ozark Mountain State Park Map
Missouri Department of Natural Resources {{authority control State parks of Missouri Protected areas of Taney County, Missouri Protected areas established in 2016 2016 establishments in Missouri