Sunday afternoon drive

We took to the back roads last Sunday afternoon in  hopes of finding some beautiful Fall colors.

We found a very old cemetery in the little town of Westphalia.  But the leaves on these trees certainly haven’t changed clothes, now have  they??

This cemetery is located at the bottom of the hill, away from the Church on the hill.  We think, but aren’t sure, that at one time the cemetery was located next to the church and then was moved in later years in order to provide room for parking lots and expansion.

We found one of the few old bridges left standing in the state.  These leaves look mighty green still. 

Our plan was to stroll through Westphalia and take pictures of some of the many historic buildings and church.  Their church Fall Festival changed that plan!  People and cars were everywhere.  Now that just isn’t my idea of a good photo op… unless the plan is to take pictures of people and cars, which I have done many times… but not today. 

The bridge was pretty cool, though.  That’s Jim driving across it.  Can you see the license plate?  It says MoLamb… get it?  It has two meanings:  More Lamb or Missouri Lamb.  We are thinking about changing it to LmbChp next year.  What do you think?

Next stop, Painted Rock Conservation Area. 

No, Junyah, we didn’t see and partridge or deer.  Heck, we didn’t even see any squirrels!

According to the self guide book that Jim is reading in the above picture, “Before you reach the river bluffs, there lies remnants of an Indian burial cairn. Local legend has it that this cairn was a great chief’s burial mound, built 500-1500 years ago.  The cairn was vandalized years ago, so there is no way to know for cfertain.  Most probably, it and the bluff paintings were there when the Osage Indians moved into the area around 1400 A.D. and when they left, by 1825”

As Jim was reading this, he commented, “I’ll bet this  is where the burial cairns are located”.

Ya think?  He hadn’t noticed the LARGE sign that says “Indian Burial Cairn”.  How I love to laugh!

The leaves are starting to change colors here, but definitely not in their glory yet.

According to the guide book, Painted Rock State Forest is a place full of history.  The river-bluff paintings were old already when Zebulon Pike saw them in 1806.  They were pictographs, one a buffalo, placed high on a bluff above the Osage River by Indians ages ago.  For years, traders and rivermen used the painted rock as a landmark.

The rock paintings (not accessible by the tail) probably were done between 1200 and 1300 A.D. but people lived along the Osage long before that.  Form 9,000 to 2,500 years ago, small bands of Indians, perhaps 12 to 15 in a group, made temporary campsites on the high ground near the river.

A friend has a cabin on the other side of the river and has canoed across to see the actual paintings on the rock.  Maybe  we can do that next Sunday… or maybe not…