Missouri State Parks: Graham Cave, Deutschheim Historic Site, and Exploring Hermann

As quickly as it came, Labor Day Weekend is almost over.  Like many others, I decided it would be a great time to check out a Missouri State Park we hadn’t tried yet.

To be honest, Graham Cave S.P. was not my first choice, but I procrastinated waaay too long and couldn’t find camping spots in many other parks.  The few reviews I had seen were positive and considering it’s closeness to historic Hermann, MO, I figured it would be worth checking out.

We left Friday evening after Tanner’s first cross country meet of the season.  Sidenote:  He medaled with a 10th place finish!

Of course, just like every time we go on any kind of road trip, we got stuck in a storm!  We decided to pull over for a little when the rain was so heavy I could barely see and there was a threat of hail, according to the weather app.

We arrived after dark due to the delays, so we didn’t get a good luck at the park until the following morning.  In the dark, on the way in, the park looked a little “hairy,” but we were pleasantly surprised with the campground when we got up Saturday morning.  The campsites were very clean and well-maintained.  The grass was neatly trimmed and the sites offered tables, many with covers, fire rings, and paved driveways.  Most of the sites were reservable but there were also several first come, first serve sites.

We knew the big attraction at the park was Graham Cave and the hiking trails.  However, we knew that we wanted to spend a day in Hermann exploring, so we figured that Saturday would be a better day for that because we didn’t know what kinds of hours the shops and restaurants had on a Sunday.  So off to Hermann we went.

Hermann, Missouri is about a 20-25 minute drive from Graham Cave.  After taking the scenic drive down Highway 19, crossing the Loutre and Missouri Rivers, we were smack dab in Hermann!

We parked and started walking down the main street along the river.  Since it was still morning, our first stop was Espresso Laine.  It was an adorable coffee and toy shop in one of the many historic homes downtown.  The boys all got one of the specials, salted caramel, I believe, and I went for a mango pineapple smoothie.  (Just not a big coffee fan).

Next we went up and down the street checking out several antique shops.  Probably the most memorable part, was the old pinball machine we found!  We all took turns playing our hearts out for 25 cents!!  The sound of that old machine was extremely nostalgic.

After checking out the shops, we walked down to the Hermann waterfront where we enjoyed watching the full Missouri River race by.

We timed our time at the river perfectly, because a train and the Amtrak sped by at the same time!! Even though Oakley was made at the world all morning (I made him change out of his stinky Spider-Man shirt), he couldn’t hide his interest in the trains.

We decided to eat at the Hermann Wurst Haus. After getting a free sampling of the four bratwursts they offer as part of the Platter special, we ordered three specials with various brats and sides. And I couldn’t resist the smoked bologna sandwich.

Our favorite brats were probably the pear and Gorgonzola cheese, pineapple and bacon, and their award winning brat. My mom raved about the warm potato salad and I loved the pasta salad made with creamy Gorgonzola. We all agreed the peach and pecan bread pudding was a winner!

It was a good thing I liked sauerkraut because I was the only one in the family who did. Every special platter came with a helping and I ended up eating just about everybody’s. I can promise you, August will never eat it again. He wanted another “apple pie” soda, so we told him if he tried it, we’d get him one. He held his nose as he dumped a spoonful into his mouth, only to quickly spit it up on the table in front of him. There was an instant gag reflux!! If I’d had known his reaction was going to be that great, I would have recorded it! It was priceless.

After eating we bought a couple more packages of brats to take home. It was a hard decision because they have a selection of around 45 different flavors! And don’t even get me started on the bacon and other meat items!

Next we headed over to the Deutschheim State Historical Site for the 2:30 tour. This site offers several building and gardens that belonged to some of the first German immigrants to settle in Hermann in the mid 19th century. The tour includes a history of who settled here and why, tours inside of two buildings, and a walk through the community garden that they still grow vegetables and herbs in.

The first house was occupied by a family of piano builders. The tour allows you to see how early immigrants with a little wealth lived. It also includes an original Plummer piano, one of only four known to still be in existence.

The second house tour shows how an early immigrant family who weren’t as wealthy lived. It was actually the home of a woman who loved to be 96 years old!

In the basement of the home is a printing press and the tour described how the first German newspapers were printed in Hermann.

The adjoining home to this home was an old winery. The tour guide described how they would bring in the grape harvest to be pressed and stored in the building and then taken out as wine later. In the garden behind this building was a tunnel of grapevines. The guide said the last vine at the bottom of the hill was 150 years old and still grew Norton grapes.

Mary, our tour guide was excellent! She was so patient with our “darling” four year old throughout the tour. My mom said she reminded her of her own mother, a descendant of German immigrants, when she was younger.

After our tour it was about time to go back to camp. But you can’t go to Hermann without checking out a few wineries!! We ended up going by Stone Hill Winery which was having a large festival. We didn’t stick around too long. Just long enough to get a bottle or two of wine to take to camp. I was extremely satisfied with my purchases!

Next, we went down the the road to the Adam Puchta winery. I actually took a little more time and did a tasting before making a selection of bottled wine to take home. The wines were very, very good. They had some very interesting flavors that I’d not had before at other wineries.

Finally, it was off to camp to enjoy some quiet time by the fire.

On Sunday it was time to explore the Graham Cave State Park more extensively. It’s not a very big park and the trails aren’t supper long, but it was perfect for us.

There are about five trails that one can walk that vary in length from 0.2 miles to 2.5 miles. After looking at the map, we figured out we could string a series of trails together and walk completely around the park and hit the major attractions.

I won’t to go into much detail, but we started at the Fern Ridge Trail and then connected them in this order from there: Graham Cave Trail, Indian Glade Trail, and finished our loop around the park on the Loutre River Trail.

I would rate all of these trails as easy, “walk in the woods” trails. There was little elevation gain and the trail was easy to follow. The trails were fairly rocky, and after the rain we’d had a few days before, some of the larger rocks were slick and the trail along the river was muddy in some places. I know it was slick because I busted my hiney on a couple of those slick rocks!!

Graham Cave is the biggest attraction in the park, obviously. It’s definitely one of the larger cave entrances I’ve seen in our great state, but unfortunately there’s no exploring inside of it. The grounds around the cave are very well kept and would be a great spot for a picnic. You can even take the trail around to the top of the cave if you wish. I also appreciated the fact that a short section of the trail is paved for those who are handicapped.

We found several moth caterpillars along the trail. We’d just done some research on those types of caterpillars and learned that if you touch them, those gorgeous fuzzy things will sting you, and it won’t be pleasant afterwards. I also found my first paw paw down by the river!

We hiked a little over 3 miles that morning and really enjoyed it!!

After a long morning of hiking, we were starved! We headed back to Hermann to try out a pizza place we’d passed.

4th Street Pizza was amazing! We ordered their large, 18 inch meat lovers pizza. Paired that with an order of pesto cheese bread, a house salad with a creamy red vinaigrette, and fettuccine alfredo for Oakley. It was delicious and definitely hit the spot. We didn’t even leave any leftovers, which doesn’t normally happen.

As stuffed as we were, there’s always room for ice cream!  We found a sweet shop called Sweet Momma’s.  They advertised Ted Drewes ice cream, which sounded amazing, but after perusing the store, I was more intrigued with the Honey Ice Cream selection.  The honey, which replaced a lot of the sugar, is harvested by a local Missouri beekeeper.  There was a wide variety of flavors, and I couldn’t pass up the peach, but the honey ice cream made with Adam Puchta wine, which Mom and Enrique selected, was amazing!!  I would highly recommend a stop to try this delicious treat.

Afterwards, we made our way back to camp for a few more games of frisbee and some relaxing by the fire.  Labor Day morning, we got up and had our camp packed up and ready to head home in about 40 minutes.

We made one last stop for coffee at Stomp’n Grounds Espresso Bar before we took the “scenic” drive home.  (Unfortunately, the mix of lattes and curvy roads did not sit well with Mr. August.  I will spare you the picture Grandma Darlene took!)

It was a nice relaxing weekend, with great food, time in the outdoors, and some great history lessons.  Even though Graham Cave State Park isn’t as large as many of the other parks in Missouri, there’s enough there for a nice day of exploring and  the campground was especially nice.  If you are interested in visiting Hermann, MO but don’t want to stay in town, Graham Cave State Park would be a great base for the weekend.