Prairie Trails

The Prairie Trails system at Poplar Heights Living History Farm is a walking, running, biking, riding adventure. Here you are not just walking for physical fitness, you're living with nature.

click map for pdf version (265 KB)

For over 8,000 years this land was unchanged at the eastern edge of the great tall grass prairie that stretches west to the Rocky Mountains. With John Deere's invention of the steel plow, the prairie was quickly plowed under leaving less than 1% surviving. A small section adjoins the Daisy's Creek Trail.

As you walk our trails, you'll see a wide variety of wildlife as we are a Nature Conservancy and here they are protected. Wildflowers grow in abundance. You'll walk along hedge rows planted just after the Civil War by pioneers and at the edges of currently farmed fields.

Be sure to ask for a copy of the Prairie Trails Guide Book. This booklet gives you a bit of information about things you will encounter on your journeys. Numbered trail markers give more specific details about plants and animals you will likely see. Please check with the office for additional materials on plants and wildlife you can take with you. A Scavenger Hunt sheet is also available for children hikers.

Enjoy your trip, short or long, and please, leave nothing behind nor take anything from the trails.  Trash bags are available at no charge.

Warning: Cell phone coverage is spotty at best on parts of these trails. Please check in with the Office before going on one of the longer trails and check in when you return.  You don't want to spend the night with the coyotes if you get lost or hurt.

More to Come (with a little help) We have received a grant from Missouri Division of Natural Resources for a Recreational Trails Program. With this grant we will be adding an additional trail that will tie to the Heron Pond Trail and the Daisy's Creek Trail.  This Willow Branch Trail will go along Willow Branch Creek and through the light woods surrounding the creek.  There will be two crossing - a low water ford crossing with handrails near the creek's headwaters and a pedestrian/light motorized vehicles bridge farther downstream. Bathrooms will be constructed at the Trail Head, just north of the red Threshing Barn.  Picnic tables will be added along the trails in rest stop areas. The project will take two years and should be completed in late 2019. Many thanks to all who helped to make this grant possible and the many volunteers who will be working to complete the Willow Branch Trail and new bathroom facilities. If you would like more information on this project, please click here to email us.