My brother and I walked the hiking trail this morning. Â Although the noise level above says that it is moderate, when we walked, we were struck by the fact that it was so quiet. Â Of course, we have a special attachment to the park. Â After WWII, the county opened a number of the old clapboard barracks houses to home coming GI's, one of which was our father. Â We grew up roaming the park and the environs. Â This meant that on Memorial Day we, as scouts, put flags on the graves at the cemetery and as members of the JB Boys and Girls Club, we handed out water to visitors.
I have told my children that I grew up in one of the first major housing projects in the city, but this was a great place to grow up. Â It is now a beautiful park, but I have to tell you that a number of the historic features that we knew are now gone. Â Others are closed off behind the fence around the National Guard base. Â Those that remain are very worthwhile to enjoy. Â the county has built a fantastic extension to the trail that allows you to walk north along the river and to pass the River City Casino. Â It is my understanding that they have plans to extend it even more.
In addition to the larger park, Jefferson Barracks also includes a smaller beautiful park along side the cemetery. Â This is Sylvan Springs Park. Â It has been the site of many family picnics for our family and is a real gem. Â the spring now only has water in it during the wet season, but there is a very interesting structure that was built by the servicemen so that they could have dances and parties along the spring. Â It is really interesting to see.
My parents are now buried at the cemetery, and as a veteran. I will one day likely join them there. Â It is a wonderful place.
One of my favorite parks. The facilities are always well-maintained, especially the women's restrooms, and the park is usually packed with families and dog-walkers. The main path is paved, with two conjoined loops totaling about two and a half miles; there are some light hills, but nothing too strenuous. Lots of deer, too!
Review Source:Jefferson Barracks is really a gem in St. Louis. Â I use it mostly for running, and there are a lot of options here. Â There's the main paved trail that is about 3 miles long. Â You almost always see people (and animals) making use of it. Â Most often for me, though, I run along the outside of the park and take advantage of more of the park's space. Â It makes for a decently lengthy run and provides a few hills. Â And most importantly some nice views and the feeling that you aren't in the middle of a big metro area.
The park has much more to offer too. Â There's a frisbee golf course; several softball, baseball, and soccer fields; playgrounds; shelters; and general open space. Â You also aren't far from another park - Sylvan Springs - where there are tennis courts, a skate park, and a playground. Â There are also a lot of historical markers that help you understand the park's original purpose - as a military barracks. Â There are even museums and gift shops around. Â And of course you're next door to the national cemetery, which everyone should visit at least once.
Upon reading up on the local Frisbee Golf venues in St. Louis I stumbled across Jefferson Barracks.
You may be wondering: Why was Aaron B reading up on local Frisbee Golf venues? Well reader, I'll tell you.
My brother is getting married in a couple of weeks and is a rather athletic fella. For his bachelor party, he wanted to start it with some active-day-activities. One of his friends had a broken leg so golfing was out of the picture (thank goodness). The other option was rock climbing...which is a little on the pricier side and still excludes the cripple friend.
So, I thought to myself, why not FROLF?! For those of you who don't know, Frolf is the unholy-mutant-love-child that resulted from the monster who decided to combine two things I cannot do: play golf & properly throw a frisbee.
Despite coming in 7th place out of 7, I still enjoyed the course. Relatively speaking. It was the perfect thing to do considering the weather and group make-up.
Upon arriving to the course, there are score cards on a sign that have maps on them. We utilized these in order to calculate everyone's scores.
The Jefferson Barracks Frolf course is rather large--it's an 18 hole course. We only played the front 9 for time purposes. All of the Frolf "baskets"(?) were set at a fairly large distance. I think they managed to place every single one behind a tree to make it even more difficult to find/score. This makes me think that this course is intended for the real Frolf professionals.
Apart from the course, the park was large and beautiful. We saw a few war-vets driving around as well.
I would like to go back and explore other areas of the park. I would recommend this place to anyone in the area.
As a National Guard service member, I have been drilling here off and on since May of 2005, after when I raised my right hand to enlist at the end of April. This location boasts a ton of history. There are many of buildings at this location that have been standing since the civil war era. Jefferson Barracks was also the site where they had the first jump landing, so there is a lot of history in this place.
There is the park, the cemetery, various military armories and a few museums here, so there are a lot of things to do.
I live in Lemay, and I have been visiting this park for the past 6 years I've lived in the area. I originally went for some nice leisurely walks. I have been jogging for the past 14 months and this is one of my favorite places to jog. I live about a mile from there, so sometimes I just jog to the park from my house and back. The park itself is an excellent jog as well. You have a few options; there is the actual paved path within the park, which has a large outer loop as well as a cutoff for 2 smaller loops. These offer a couple spots with some nice challenging hills. A good portion of the time, I tend to jog the perimeter of the park, to avoid dodging people on the path. The perimeter is essentially the sidewalk that goes almost all the way around the entire park. Part of this section you jog alongside the roadway, but it's safe. The outer jog has a little more hill variation to it. If you are a fan of deer, this is a great place to see many of them and they are used to seeing people, so they aren't very skittish. I've also glimpsed a few wild turkeys, some snakes, and even a pretty little red fox one day.
Review Source:I'm reviewing the JB Barracks Cemetery than I am the actual park. The cemetery is a National one that lays to rest soldiers. The cemetery is one of the best in the nation is care for with meticulous detail and strives for the best experiences for family members. They are doing some major renovations to the headquarters and is working on expansion, which creates an eye-sore, but this cannot be helped.
Review Source:JB Park has just about the tidiest little 2.5 mile jog I can think of that isn't Choose Your Own Adventure style street jogging. The park offers a blacktop paved trail that winds its way through gently rolling hills, past flat soccer/baseball fields, and through a fair amount of underbrush that almost always rewards you with great deer sightings. Of the last 3 times I've been out there, no matter what time of day, I see at least two deer, just hanging out by the path, close enough for you to stop, catch your breath and hang out with them for a bit.
The other great thing about this jogging path is that Taco Bell sponsored it. Taco Bell, owner of the Fourth Meal enterprise, actually paid the county to put up obstacle course style training drills the entire length of the path. So, with this jog, you not only get the chance to get a quick run in, but you could essentially practice with speed drills in between chin up, push up, wall climb, and monkey bar drills. How's that for a shake up to your routine!
The trail isn't long (2.7 miles), but it's nicely paved, well maintained, has some challenging hills to it, and bends through some beautiful wildnerness in deep south county. Â Perfect for running, and if you are willing to wrap around a few times, it's pretty perfect for biking as well.
Other than the trail, this park has a ton to offer. Â This park butts up to the Jefferson Barracks military cemetary which is one of the coolest sights in St. Louis if you are interested in that sort of thing. Â The park is massive, and has everything from picnic areas to good hiking areas, to baseball fields. Â Also, there's a great amphitheater here where live music concerts are held all summer long. Â Just bring your bug spray, you are awfully close to Meremac here, so the bugs can get a little out of control. Â A lot of schools hold their spring picnics here as well, so on any given weekend there could easily be a gigantic carnival going on with rides and funnel cakes. Â WOO!
The place has a lot of history as well. Â It was the first Infantry School of Practice, was the sight of the first airplane jump, and played a key role in westward expansion. Â The barracks still exists and now works as a museum, where you can make your own candle...(I distinctly remember doing this in Girl Scouts). Â The barracks also doubles as a reserve space.
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