By Dennis Bresnahan
Whenever I see a sign for a park or conservation area when I am driving around in a part of Missouri that I haven’t been in recently, or ever, I consider stopping to check it out.
I usually get out my map, Missouri Atlas, or Missouri Conservation Guide and look up how far it is from the road that I am on and, if possible, what is there.
Recently I was traveling down State Highway C in Franklin County just west of Leslie, Missouri, and I saw the sign for Port Hudson Lake Conservation Area.
I had never heard of it and looked it up on the map and found it to only be about a mile away on Bald Hill Road.
I was surprised to see how nice the 225-acre area was with a beautiful lake and picnic shelter. The area was acquired in 1989 and named after the small community of Port Hudson that is located two miles southeast.
The conservation area lake is 55 acres and facilities were developed in 1992 and 1993. The area also contains 112 acres of forest and woodland and 36 acres of old fields and grassland.
