Des Moines River at Keosauqua
Lacey-Keosauqua State Park, Keosauqua, IA
Keosauqua, IA
A thirteen-mile horseshoe bend of the Des Moines River, cradling one of Iowa's oldest state parks, ancient burial mounds, and a string of frozen-in-time steamboat villages.
Most of the Des Moines River runs straight and businesslike across Iowa, but at Keosauqua it does something remarkable. The river swings into a huge horseshoe known as the Great Bend, a loop roughly thirteen miles around that nearly wraps back on itself, cradling the little town on a neck of land inside the curve. On the high ground overlooking almost two miles of that bend sits Lacey-Keosauqua State Park, one of the largest and oldest parks in Iowa.
This is Iowa river history you can paddle through. The same water that curves around the park carried steamboats into the interior in the 1800s and floated Mormon pioneers across on their way west, and it still slips past a string of perfectly preserved river towns. Come for the bend and the bluffs, and you find a whole layered story of the state written along one stretch of the Des Moines.
What Guests Love
- Bluff-top overlooks of the river's dramatic horseshoe bend from the park's rustic stone shelters and trails
- An easy, scenic paddle down a calm water trail past historic villages and tall rock formations
- The preserved 1800s brick storefronts, mills, and the old iron bridge in Bentonsport and Bonaparte
- The oak-hickory bluffs lighting up in fall color along the whole length of the river route
Worth Knowing
- The state park has about thirteen miles of hiking trails, including a bluff-top stretch above the river and a loop around its spring-fed lake
- Ancient Woodland-era burial mounds sit in the park's northwest corner and can be reached on foot, so walk that quiet, protected ground respectfully
- Wildlife here includes bald eagles, river otters, and, among the bluffs, timber rattlesnakes, so watch where you step off-trail
- The Des Moines River Water Trail runs for miles through Van Buren County with public access points at several of the river villages, making one-way floats easy to plan
Details
Keosauqua, IA
Learn about Des Moines River at Keosauqua
The Great Bend and its park
The Great Bend is the kind of feature that only makes full sense from above. The river loops so far that the town of Keosauqua sits almost inside the horseshoe, ringed on three sides by water. When conservationists set out to protect it, they created a park in the early 1920s, first called Big Bend and soon renamed for John F. Lacey, an Iowa congressman remembered for landmark conservation laws. Today it spreads across well over a thousand acres of forested bluff above the river.
In the 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps went to work here, building an earthen dam and a spring-fed lake with a sandy swimming beach, along with the rustic stone shelters and trails that still give the park its handsome, hand-built character. Three areas of the park now carry a listing on the National Register of Historic Places for that Depression-era craftsmanship, so a walk here is partly a walk through the story of how Americans built their public places nearly a century ago.
Mounds, fords, and steamboat towns
The human story on this bend reaches back far beyond the pioneers. In the park's northwest corner, a group of Woodland Culture burial mounds overlooks the river, raised by Native people over many centuries and standing among more than a dozen documented archaeological sites here. They are among the quietest and oldest things a visitor can walk to in southeast Iowa.
The river was also a highway. In the mid-1800s steamboats worked their way up the Des Moines to serve settlements along its banks, and Mormon pioneers heading west in 1846 crossed the river in this county, some of them at Ely Ford at the north end of what is now the park, where a granite monument marks the spot. A little downstream, the towns of Bentonsport and Bonaparte grew up as busy river ports, and because time and the railroads later passed them by, they survive today as near-intact windows into the steamboat era.
Paddling and exploring the bend
The Des Moines here is calm, wide, and forgiving, which makes it one of the friendlier rivers in the state to float. The Van Buren County water trail strings public launches together at several of the villages, so you can put in above town and drift down past bluffs, riverbank forest, and the old brick fronts of Bentonsport, taking out at the next landing rather than paddling back upstream. It is an easy day on the water with real history sliding by on the banks.
On foot, the park rewards a slow visit. Follow the bluff-top trail for the big river views, walk the loop around the lake, and seek out the burial mounds and the Ely Ford marker to feel the depth of the place. Then drive the few miles to Bentonsport and Bonaparte to walk their old streets and cross the one-lane iron bridge from the 1880s. It all adds up to an unhurried, deeply rooted corner of Iowa built around a single grand curve in the river.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Keosauqua
Lacey-Keosauqua State Park
About 2 miles
One of Iowa's largest and oldest state parks, on the Great Bend, with CCC stone shelters, a spring-fed swimming lake, ancient burial mounds, and bluff trails over the river.
Bentonsport National Historic District
About 5 miles
A near-frozen-in-time 1800s steamboat port with brick shops, restored mills, and a one-lane iron bridge built in 1882.
Bonaparte
About 12 miles
A restored river town of historic mills a few miles downstream, and a documented 1846 Mormon Trail river crossing.
Shimek State Forest
About 2 miles
Iowa's largest state forest, a broad expanse of oak-hickory woods and planted pine with hiking, hunting, and quiet camping.