King of the Road, John Robinson

The Lodges of the Meremac

Posted at May 28, 2008 12:48

By John Robinson

I SETTLED in my lawn chair for the show.
Silhouetted by a spectacular sunset over a picture-
postcard valley, five musicians launched
into vocal harmonies punctuated by fine fiddlin’
and pickin’. Their stage was a concrete
poolside tarmac. The crowd sat in lawn chairs
and on blankets in this natural amphitheater,
a gentle slope softened by thick bluegrass.

Traditional bluegrass fans have little tolerance
for a band that strays so easily into
Buddy Holly anthems. But the crowd loved
the Stringtown String Band in this intimate
venue where folks mingle with bands like
The Amazing Rhythm Aces and Asleep at the
Wheel. The lineup this fall is no less impressive
with legends Poco, Arlo Guthrie, The Guess
Who, and Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

Where is this place? It’s near nirvana. And like
nirvana, you take a winding road to get there.

It was late Saturday afternoon. I’d just
departed from a delightful walk through
Dillard Mill, a relic fixed firmly against a
hairpin turn in the Huzzah River, a vigorous
Ozark stream often overlooked until it meanders
nearer the Meramec. Taking the back
roads, I crossed the Huzzah thrice more before
descending into Steelville.

As the self-proclaimed Floating Capital of
Missouri, the town caters to lovers of the
great outdoors. Before there was a Luckytown,
Steelville won the lottery. Well, to be precise,
the town is the beneficiary of a lottery winner.
In 1990, telephone regulators held a lottery
to determine which phone companies would
provide rural service to the burgeoning cellular
phone demand. Among the winners was tiny
Steelville Telephone Exchange. The company
parlayed that windfall into great service, not
only to telephone customers but to the community
and its schools.

Just up the hill from Steelville, overlooking
the Meramec River valley, sits Wildwood
Springs Lodge. For eight decades, the lodge has
clung to its lofty perch. And like many of the musical acts performing poolside or in the
cozy lobby, the lodge is a survivor. Like most
eighty-five-year-olds, the lodge has endured
peaks and valleys.

Today the lodge thrives. Owner Robert
Bell brings in the talent, including the
bands, the hotel staff, and the cuisine. He’s
revived a long history of great music and great
times at the lodge.

Like a proud grandparent, the lodge displays
its photos, visuals of pleasures and performances
past. Here, a young St. Louis musician,
Gordon Jenkins, honed his chops. Jenkins later
became a famous producer for Decca Records.
Listen to Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole, and
you’ll witness Gordon Jenkins’s handiwork.

Bill Freeman can tell you about that. A
retired state trooper, Bill is affable, polite,
and knowledgeable. And he keeps the hotel’s
systems running. Bill’s also a walking history
book, readily telling stories about the river,
the region, and the lodge.

The lobby’s charm overflows, especially
when a crowd gathers around Michael Martin
Murphy or America playing unplugged before
a roaring fire in the fireplace during the
Living Room Concerts.

The long dining hall could be a movie set.
Its hardwood floors, linen tablecloths, and gorgeous
floor-to-ceiling French windows serve
up splendid scenery. The guest rooms’ comfortably
Spartan appointments offer a subtle
hint that rooms are for sleeping. Daytime calls
for vigorous action in the great outdoors.

Like Wildwood Lodge, the story of recreation
on the Meramec River has its own peaks
and valleys. In the late 1890s, St. Louisans
would hop the Frisco Railroad for a short
ride to the Highlands resort and recreation
complex, just west of Kirkwood. Anticipating
the arrival of thousands of visitors to the 1904
Louisiana Exposition, the St. Louis World’s
Fair, developers built the Highlands, offering
enough activities to ensure fatigue: swimming,
boating, dancing, and tennis. Alas,
the Meramec Highlands suffered fatigue and
disappeared before World War I. City folk then
traveled further upriver to find Meramec hot
spots around Valley Park and Fenton.

About the same time, St. Louisans discovered
the lodges in the Steelville area, along
the Meramec. They’d take the Frisco to Cuba,
Missouri, where shuttles would deliver them a
few more miles to the river resorts.

Most of those lodges have vanished, victims
of time, the Great Depression, increased traveler
mobility, and new levees. Along the river, concrete
steps remain as memorials leading from
the water, up the bank, and into the woods.

But a few resorts still stand with Wildwood
against the ravages of time and the trend
toward corporate conformity. Cobblestone
Lodge is an octogenarian, too, and offers an
all-inclusive vacation that includes sumptuous
meals in a classic dining hall and floating the
Meramec, to boot!

Float like I did from Ozark Outdoors
Riverfront Lodge, which offers everything from cabins to the Grand Suite. It’s a great
place to launch an expedition to check the
health of the stream. Look closely into the
water to examine some of nearly four dozen
species of mussels, including the Washboard,
the Pocketbook, the Pimpleback, and the
Spectacle Case. Don’t be fooled by their seeming
inactivity. Some of these living water
filters are better bass fishers than anybody
pictured on a cereal box cover. The mussel
lures a bass to snap at a fleshy appendage that
looks like a minnow. The bass gets injected
with a mouthful of baby mussels, who attach
to its gills and take a ride for a few days as the
mussels grow stronger. Don’t worry, the bass
survives to face more challenges.

More challenging is the search for an Eastern
Hellbender, a salamander whose numbers are
declining. That’s a concern to herpetologists,
who wonder why this species is disappearing.

With a name that recalls another disappearance
from the Meramec basin, Indian Springs
Lodge offers individual cabins that honor great
Native American leaders including Black Eagle,
Red Cloud, and Crazy Horse.

Historic Bird’s Nest Lodge trumpets new
log cabins with all the amenities. On the
Huzzah, Eagle Hurst Ranch names its
thirty or so cottages for permanent residents:
trees like the dogwood, redbud, and
hickory. The Huzzah Valley Resort features
the Huzzah Hilton, Big Bear Bunkhouse, and
a pair of original farmhouses. Situated near the
Huzzah and next to Courtois Creek, Bass River
Resort offers a multitude of cozy cabins, log
cabins, A-frames, and hideaways.

The river and the resort business both
endure ebbs and flows. But two events nearly
changed the face of the region forever. Three
decades ago, the specter of a dam loomed
in the Meramec valley. Actually, the idea of
damming the Meramec goes back to 1830
when the Iron Works at present day Maramec
Spring Park near St. James promoted a dam to
improve navigation for moving iron ore.

The most recent plan would have impounded
forty-two miles of the Meramec River, nine
miles of the Courtois, and twelve miles of the
Huzzah. A group of concerned Missourians
realized that many Meramec treasures,
including Onondaga Cave, would be lost.
Several groups, including the Meramec Basin
Association, united to defeat the dam.

The second threat occurred almost twentyfive
years ago in Times Beach, a resort community
where Route 66 crosses the Meramec
River. To control dust, a contractor sprayed
oil contaminated with deadly dioxin through
the streets. The federal government made
history by forcing an evacuation and buying
out the entire town. After many years
and an expensive contamination cleanup, the
state established Route 66 State Park on the
property. The welcome center sits in a venerable
old roadhouse called Steiny’s Inn, next to
the historic Meramec River Bridge. Ask folks
who’ve lived nearby for more than a generation,
and everyone has a story about Steiny’s.
It’s a survivor.

Yep, the Meramec has endured both natural
and man-made disasters. But today, thanks to
healthy stewardship, the river has a fighting
chance at survival. And the historic lodges of
the Meramec offer their silent approval.

Email this Article