A special program on the Santa Fe Trail will be presented Sept. 17 at Arrow Rock State Historic Site in Arrow Rock. The program will be held at 2 p.m. in the auditorium of the site’s visitor center.
Joy L. Poole, assistant state librarian from Santa Fe, N. M., will lecture on her book "Over the Santa Fe Trail to Mexico: The Travel Diaries and Autobiography of Dr. Rowland Willard 1825-1828." Dr. Willard began his journey on the Santa Fe Trail from St. Charles soon after completing his medical apprenticeship. He treated patients in Chihuahua for two years before returning to Missouri in 1828.
Dr. Willard met renowned mountain man Hugh Glass who regaled him with tales of his wilderness experience. Dr. Willard is the only doctor who examined Glass after his near-death encounter with a grizzly bear.
The book won an Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History in 2016.
Arrow Rock State Historic Site is located at 39521 Visitor Center Drive in Arrow Rock. For more information about the event, contact the site at 660-837-3330. Missouri State Parks is supported by the one-tenth of one-percent Parks, Soils and Water Sales Tax, which accounts for approximately 75 percent of the budget to repair, improve and maintain state parks and historic sites. Missouri State Parks is a division of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
For more information on state parks and historic sites, visit http://mostateparks.com.