Little Creek Nature Area, Florissant

Location: 2295 Dunn Rd, Florissant, MO 63031

Website: https://www.fergflor.org/domain/68

This place is truly a hidden gem. I can't believe I never knew it existed until recently! You can find a very detailed history of this place on their website, but here is the short version:

Little Creek Nature Area is a 97-acre outdoor educational facility owned and operated by the Ferguson-Florissant School District. Since 1974, teachers have provided ecology, environmental science, field biology, and living history programs for district students. Located in North St. Louis County, the Nature Area is situated near the east-central perimeter of the district, bounded on the south by I-270 and surrounded on the east and west by subdivision, institutional, and commercial development. 

The Nature Area supports approximately eighteen acres of developed facilities. Included are a residence converted to a museum and office space, a high school classroom adjoined by a pavilion with picnic tables and restroom facilities, and an elementary building with two classrooms. A small farm is comprised of a barn, chicken coop, apiary, a vegetable garden, pastures, and a caretaker’s workshop and garage. There is a nineteenth-century log cabin, a butterfly garden, a reconstructed prairie, a conservation windbreak, and an arboretum.

The remaining acreage is largely wooded and preserved as natural areas. It includes five designated trails, two woodland ponds, a field pond, and several tributary streams that drain into the Maline Creek watershed. 

Little Creek also has an ongoing partnership with North County Technical High School, operated by the Special School District. Students in the general construction trade classes practice and enhance their skills while performing needed work at Little Creek. Thus far, projects have included rehabbing of the log cabin, replacing the garage roof, building a new chicken coop, and concrete work for sidewalks.

In the forty years it has been in operation, Little Creek Nature Area has adapted its mission and focus to the changing needs of the school district and community it serves. As efforts to boost student achievement have intensified in recent years, the programs offered by the Nature Area have been refocused to meet this challenge for both students and their teachers.

When you park in the front lot, you will see the kiosk where you check in electronically. On that kiosk is a large map. You can see we have a couple of trails that go down to the pond and to the creek. One access trail starts behind the high school building (brown building north of the brick house).

Helpful maps

We came out on a Sunday afternoon and didn't realize the museum wasn't open on the weekends. We're going to go back during the week so we can explore the rest of the property. The following pictures are just of the outdoor classroom which is right off the parking lot. My kids loved it! Here is a list of all the nature classrooms in Missouri if you also like this sort of thing.

We started to walk down one of the paths hoping to find the creek, but it was 100 degrees outside and we all got hot and tired so we turned back. We did see a deer though!

 Love all the unique musical instruments!