Rockbridge, Missouri
Rockbridge is an unincorporated community in northern Ozark County, Missouri. It is the site of an old mill on spring fed Spring Creek a tributary of Bryant Creek, which still houses the post office. It is twelve miles north of Gainesville on State Route N about one and a half miles north of Route 95. The narrow valley floor is only about 650 feet wide and at an elevation of 770 feet and the Ozark ridges on either side are 200 to 250 feet higher.[1]
The town was founded in the 19th century by pioneer families from Marion County, Kentucky, led by Captain Kim Amyx. The community was burned down during the American Civil War and rebuilt after the war.[2]
Rockbridge was once the county seat of a greater Ozark County, which encompassed today's Ozark and parts of Douglas and Howell counties.[2]
The community is now owned by the Rainbow Trout & Game Ranch and Rockbridge Gun Club, founded in 1954, and includes a trout fish hatchery.
This community is in a karst region, with caves, springs, and natural stone bridges nearby.
About five miles to the northwest above the Bryant Creek floodplain in Douglas County is Assumption Abbey, a Trappist monastery.[1]
Rockbridge Road
Rockbridge was a central point along the old Rockbridge Road (or Rockbridge–Springfield Road) which was established before the Civil War as a freight road between Arkansas and Springfield. The road was used first for the transportation by wagon and ox team of pine lumber from the sawmills of Arkansas to the growing market in Springfield. Following the arrival of the railroad to Springfield, the freight usage shifted to cotton which was hauled from northeast Arkansas to Springfield by mule team until after the Civil War.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Rockbridge, Missouri,7.5 Minute Quadrangle, USGS, 1973
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 A History of Rockbridge
- ↑ Pioneer Rockbridge Road connected Springfield with Arkansas, Ozarks Mountaineer Magazine, July 1958, page 15
External links
Coordinates: 36°47′22″N 92°24′33″W / 36.78944°N 92.40917°W
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