More than 100 species of songbirds nest during summer in the Missouri Ozarks. One legend holds that an Osage Indian maiden and her prince were wed almost 200 years ago in a sacred chamber beneath Thunder Mountain, a bluff overlooking the lake two miles north of Camdenton. After decades of primitive exploration, the cavern became accessible in 1948, and a couple asked to exchange their vows within. Since then, almost 1,800 marriages have been performed in an underground chapel adorned with stalactites. Others border on the ridiculous.
Some wedding parties arrive by boat, disembarking at a dock near the cave's entrance.
A 15-minute drive to the east, within Ha Ha Tonka State Park, stands another intriguing attraction. Or what's left of it. In 1903, wealthy Kansas City businessman Robert Snyder bought more than 5,000 acres here, and two years later he hired 60 stonemasons from Scotland to build a castle much like those in their homeland. Alas, Snyder was killed in 1906, in what is believed to be Missouri's first automobile accident. His sons finished his dream house, though less elaborately than Snyder had envisioned.