Old Trails Road
Old Trails Road is a State Scenic Byway in Missouri. Within Missouri it covers roughly 15 miles. The map below shows its route. Use “Plan a drive” to open it in the Road Sorties route planner — already routing along Old Trails Road with scenic roads turned on, ready to add your own stops.
Old Trails Road is a 15.3-mile Missouri scenic byway running from Lexington to Napoleon along the Missouri River bluffs, a two-to-three-hour drive at an unhurried pace. The curvy, tree-lined route passes through Wellington and Waterloo, offering panoramic overlooks of the Missouri River basin at Napoleon and Wellington, small-town scenery, and the historic districts of Lexington, dropping from emerald hilltops into the flat river bottomlands and back again along the way. The corridor has carried traffic for centuries, used in turn by Native Americans, fur traders and trappers, gold-rush pioneers in covered wagons, Civil War troops including both Jayhawkers and Bushwhackers, coal miners, and early automobile travelers, giving the drive an unusually deep layer of frontier and wartime history for its short length. Lexington's well-preserved historic district, tied to the 1861 Battle of Lexington, anchors the eastern end of the route. It connects directly with the Sho-Me Santa Fe Trails byway at Lexington.
- 15.3 miles, Lexington to Napoleon
- Missouri River bluff overlooks
- Lexington historic district & 1861 battle site
- frontier, fur-trade & Civil War history
- connects to Sho-Me Santa Fe Trails byway
Plan a drive on Old Trails Road →
What is a State Scenic Byway?
State Scenic Byways are roads a state has formally recognized for their scenic, natural, historic or cultural value — each state's own curated collection of drives worth taking slowly.
Where to Stay along Old Trails Road
No campgrounds are listed close to Old Trails Road yet, but there are rooms near the route.
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