Huston Tavern at Arrow Rock. This quaint, little village is not some Disney-like replica, it’s the real deal.
Day trips can be fun, especially when they involve family and old friends. Bonus points if your destination is historic and has superb restaurants and entertainment. Meet Arrow Rock! The antebellum village (pop. 55, down from its peak of 1000 before the Civil War), is located 30-some miles west of Columbia. It took Russ and me only 2-1/2 hours to get from St. Louis to Arrow Rock this past Saturday.
The occasion was the 60th anniversary of the Friends of Arrow Rock, the promotional group that safeguards the memories of the village by preserving its buildings and artifact. Upon arriving, you immediately sense this is a town where time stopped. A place where visitors can amble about, eat grandly, and discover the slower pace of a bygone era.
Lunch at Catalpa
This superb quiche and spinach salad came with a Lemon, Peach Tarragon vinaigrette. Ohhhh, so delicious!
Homemade strawberry ice cream with gold dust topping.
Our lunch bunch gathered at Catalpa, the quaint, village restaurant that gets rave reviews from its diners.
Friends of Arrow Rock, president Chet Breitweiser and I enjoy lunch along with Russ. We’re joined in the photo by the much-acclaimed Chef Liz Huff.
Thanks to the hospitality of my long-time friends Donna Houston and Chet Breitweiser, I felt like “Queen for a Day in Arrow Rock.” We lunched at the Catalpa restaurant, where Chef Liz Huff prepared a grand quiche and spinach salad dressed with a stunning, house-made vinaigrette. So good, that I brought home a bottle of the lemon, peach and tarragon dressing.
Chef Liz took me back to the kitchen, where I saw the blackened Himalayan salt slabs she uses for cooking some of her tasty dishes. I had heard glowing reports of the chef and her menus from friends, who go to Arrow Rock regularly for the Broadway-quality shows performed at the Lyceum Theater. They were right on!
Homes of Another Era
After lunch. we visited Prairie Park, Lo Mismo, and Oak Grove Plantation. The Prairie Park site has one of the finest antebellum homes anywhere in the country, a restoration lovingly performed by Whitney and Day Kerr.
We also drove out to the Sappington Cemetery, where lies Dr. Sappington, who came up with using quinine to treat malaria. Also in the state-preserved graveyard are two former Missouri governors, Meredith Miles Marmaduke and Claiborne Fox Jackson.
Since this is probably more history than you wanted on a Sunday evening, I’ll turn to photos of the day.
John Ashford (The Hawthorn Group) and his wife, Ivy, join us in viewing the authentic restoration at Prairie Park.
One of the gorgeous soft maple trees at Prairie Park.
Dr. Blaine McBurney, owner of Oak Grove Plantation, tells about this primitive bottle corker, that was likely used during Prohibition.
Seldom do I get to pose in front of a real, honest-to-goodness Bingham portrait! But here I do, along with Russ, and village benefactors Whitney and Day Kerr.
Oak Grove Plantation, like all restorations, is a work in progress.
The 416-seat Lyceum Theater is one of Missouri’s oldest professional regional theaters. More than 33,000 patrons see the Broadway-level performances each year.
For their long time efforts, the names of John and Donna Huston are synonymous with the renaissance of Arrow Rock. Donna and I are shown here with one of the rocking chairs on the covered boardwalk looking across the main street to Huston Tavern.
Views on the tour.
More History Along the Way
No trip along Hwy 70 is too long for Russ to make a stop at Crane’s General Store in Williamsburg. Here he visits with third-generation owner David Crane. Russ says its the only place he’s seen in Missouri where the sign on the lone gas pump reads, “Pump gas, then pay inside.”
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