Just below Warsaw on the Osage River is a Lover’s Leap with a vague legend.
This was a modest leap, even before Lake of the Ozarks flooded its base.
Although it lacks a retrievable story, this Lover’s Leap has been pictured on postcards from 1909 into the 1950s.
We even found it illustrated in embroidery on a prize-winning quilt showcasing famous local landmarks.
When we did our book, Lover’s Leap Legends, most stories took place on prominences from which a leap could legitimately cause serious injury or death.
This one is a much shorter leap, likely to cause cuts and bruises and – if you landed wrong – possibly a broken limb.
Lake of the Ozarks’ Lover’s Leap much farther downstream, at the junction of the Osage and Niangua rivers, has an oft-repeated and fairly detailed legend published in the Linn Creek Reveille and in J. W. Vincent’s 1913 book, Tales of the Ozark.
This site leaped to prominence in the recent Netflix series, Ozark. See the final scene in Season 1, Episode 1.
The Byrd family first see the Lake from atop that Lover’s Leap.
(Vintage Images are provided by Leland and Crystal Payton at Lens & Pen Press, publishers of all-color books on the Ozarks. “See the Ozarks: The Touristic Image” showcases many of the primary tourist destinations across the Ozarks. It is available from the website beautifulozarks.com for $22.50 (10% off retail), postage paid.)
