Annie and Abel Van Meter State Park

About this park

Annie and Abel Van Meter State Park preserves the remnants of a Missouria Indian village that once sat at the Great Bend of the Missouri River, a site significant enough to have been marked on a map by French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet all the way back in 1673. A hand-dug earthwork known as Old Fort, along with several burial mounds, lies within the park's boundaries, giving it a genuine archaeological depth connecting directly to the Missouria people for whom the state itself is named. Missouri's American Indian Cultural Center, located within the park, interprets this deep history through displays and exhibits explaining the lives and legacy of the Missouria and other American Indian groups who called this stretch of the Missouri River valley home. The Oumessourit Natural Area protects a freshwater marsh alongside bottomland and upland forest, and trails through the natural area let visitors experience this wetland ecosystem directly. An 18-acre fishing lake, hiking trails, shaded picnic sites and shelters, and a campground give the park a genuinely complete recreational offering alongside its cultural and historical significance. Regular interpretive programming, including evening fireside chats and seasonal "Nights at the Campground" events, reflects the park's ongoing commitment to connecting visitors with both the natural landscape and the deep Indigenous history embedded in this stretch of the Missouri River.