The most popular parks in the city of Branson can be found in residential areas. It is a reminder to citizens that it is possible to be normal and enjoy the simple things. It’s also a bit of thanks from the city to citizens for taking care of visitors and helping the town thrive.
Arguably, theses parks are North Beach, Old School Park, Lakeside Forrest Wilderness, RecPlex, and Stockstill. Let’s review these parks.
North Beach Park
North Beach (see image above) is one of the most popular among visitors by accident simply because of its location. North Beach is adjacent to and north of the Branson Landing – the river walk development that is loaded with touristy fun – and the park also runs along Taneycomo Lake. North Beach is a casual stroll that gets a water view and sweet breeze from the chilly waters of the river-looking lake. Visitors sometimes naturally stroll along the river walk and keep going to find themselves in a peaceful area and see locals fishing, grilling, and dodging geese.
Old School Park
Another popular park is the Old School Park, due to its location and is explored by visitors. It sits by Dolly’s Stampede and across from the Dick Clark Theater right on the 76 Strip. It’s literally just an old one-room schoolhouse amidst the modern tourist district. (it’s neat nostalgia, so we might as well keep it.) Tourists waiting for their show to start, just wonder over there thinking, “what’s this?”, take a look, then wander back. That’s pretty much it.
Lakeside Forrest Wilderness
A deliberate park destination for visitors and popular among locals is the favorite Lakeside Forrest Wilderness. Just behind Dick Clark’s American Bandstand Theater, these 140 acres offer some rugged steps and hiking plus a washout cave to explore. It’s easily found, which makes it simple to guide a guest who is looking for some nature without driving for miles. Stay on the paths because there’s plenty of poison ivy in them there woods.
Branson RecPlex
The Branson RecPlex isn’t about nature and is almost its own amusement park and a for-certain destination among locals and a few knowing tourists. It’s modern, it’s big, has a 44,000 sq foot recreation center, 12,000 sq foot aquatic center, baseball fields, pavilions, and more. We thank our visitors and their tax dollars that made this 35-acre development possible in our little town of 11,000. You helped pay for it, so you might as well visit it!
Stockstill Park
To become almost normal again, escape to Stockstill Park. You are welcome to invade these 60 acres of baseball and tennis games and a sweet creek to skip rocks or jump in. Stockstill is where locals go to play. A cool walking bridge over the water leads to the skateboarding area or dog park. There’s a paved trail that surrounds Stockstill for those that like some exercise plus a nifty playground. There’s still plenty of playground and fun remaining.
Eiserman Park
An unsung hero of the parks that few visitors know about is Eiserman Park, and it has much to offer. Equipped with fishing ponds, pickle ball courts, disc golf and a pavilion, Eiserman is relatively known among locals and there’s a bet pending that most couldn’t tell you how to get there. Another disc golf park that isn’t well known is Sunset Park. This 21-acre park has a nice view of Taneycomo Lake and a cool trail along vegetation covered bluffs. You would be slightly crazy or have bad judgement to climb those bluffs, but they are beautiful and tempting. Unlike Eiserman, the base of Sunset Park vanishes when the generators or flood gates open on Table Rock Dam. The cool part about that is that you can wade into the middle of a small field (if you can stand the cold water) and grab a fish!
Neighborhood Parks
The City of Branson has parks in neighborhoods for citizens to enjoy and visitors are welcome to jump out of the car and jump on the swings too. A person can be driving along and suddenly there’s a basketball court, volleyball court, playground or just a nice picnic area. Fancy amenities and modern facilities to nature and trails with lots of acres. There is even a .1-acre park (yup, .1 acre) that is just a covered seating area near city hall. (There’s a patch of triangular grass in an odd intersection and it is delightfully pleasing with a tiny park.)
Branson can be sensory overload and that’s a wonderful thing to create some exciting memories. During your trip with us, become a temporary local and learn some backroads to get to where the locals reset. Being normal is overrated when on vacation, so you can go to the city parks to reset too and then go have more fun!
For directions and details on the parks in the City of Branson, please visit bransonparksandrecreation.com.