Best Things to Do in Joplin & Carthage, Missouri: Route 66, History & Hidden Gems
When we arrived in southwest Missouri, we weren’t expecting Joplin and Carthage to have quite so much to see.
We knew we were entering Historic Route 66 territory, but once we started exploring, we discovered Civil War history, beautiful historic architecture, mining exhibits, Bonnie and Clyde history, some wonderfully unusual little museums, and one of the best visitor center welcomes we’ve ever received.
If you’re traveling Route 66 through Missouri or simply looking for things to do around Joplin and Carthage, give yourself some time here.
There’s a surprising amount packed into this corner of Missouri.
Our Route 66 Welcome to Joplin
One of our first stops was the Joplin Visitor Center, and this was definitely not your average stop to pick up a few brochures.
Sandy went inside and came back out loaded down with Route 66 goodies, including a mug, tote bag, and coasters.
We couldn’t believe it!
We’ve stopped at plenty of visitor centers during our travels, but we’d never experienced anything quite like that.
If you’re traveling Route 66, visitor centers are always worth checking because they’re often one of the best places to discover small attractions you might otherwise drive right past.
And Joplin certainly made us feel welcome.
Exploring Historic Carthage, Missouri
Nearby Carthage quickly became another favorite stop.
The centerpiece of downtown is its magnificent historic courthouse. It’s one of those buildings that immediately makes you want to grab your camera.
The surrounding downtown square is filled with additional historic buildings, making Carthage a fun town to simply wander around and explore.
But Carthage has another important story to tell.
Civil War History at the Battle of Carthage Museum
Missouri was deeply divided during the Civil War, and Carthage played a role very early in the conflict.
The Battle of Carthage was fought on July 5, 1861, just a few months after the war began.
We visited the Civil War museum in Carthage and, although it was a relatively small museum, it packed a lot of history into the space.
One of our favorite features was an animated battle diorama that demonstrated the sequence of events during the battle.
Displays like this can make military history much easier to understand because you can actually visualize how the battle unfolded rather than simply reading dates and names on a sign.
If you’re interested in Civil War history, Carthage is definitely worth adding to your Missouri itinerary.
Lunch in Downtown Carthage
After exploring some of the history, we stopped for lunch at The Woodshed in downtown Carthage.
The restaurant was located in the back of an art gallery, which made it another one of those interesting little places we probably never would have discovered if we weren’t taking our time exploring.
That’s one of our favorite things about road travel.
Sometimes the places you remember aren’t famous attractions at all. They’re the restaurants, shops, museums, and odd little discoveries you stumble across along the way.
An Unexpected Campground Power Outage
Our adventures weren’t limited to sightseeing.
While we were staying in the area, the electricity went out at our campground.
That gave us an unexpected opportunity to see how well our lithium battery setup could handle a real power outage.
When we walked around the campground that evening, we noticed that very few of the other RVs had lights.
Ours did.
It was the first time we’d experienced this particular situation on the road, and it reinforced something we’ve learned repeatedly during full-time RV travel:
Being prepared matters.
You never know when the power will go out, the weather will turn bad, or some other unexpected problem will become part of your travel day.
Tornado Country
This was also a reminder that we were traveling through a part of the country where severe weather and tornadoes are a very real consideration.
We noticed a storm shelter at a gas station near our campground.
Coming from the East Coast, that’s not something we’d been accustomed to seeing.
Every region of the country brings different challenges for RV travelers, and traveling through Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma meant paying closer attention to severe weather forecasts than we normally would.
Standing in Three States at Once
We also couldn’t resist visiting the Kansas-Missouri-Oklahoma Tri-State Marker.
This is one of those quirky roadside stops that doesn’t take long but is just plain fun.
Ed stood at the point where Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma meet—which explains his rather interesting balancing act in the video!
It’s not a major tourist attraction, but when you’re already traveling through the area, how often do you get the chance to stand in three states at once?
Exploring the Joplin Museum Complex
One of the biggest surprises of our visit was the Joplin Museum Complex.
Rather than focusing on just one subject, the complex brought together several different collections and exhibits.
That made exploring it particularly fun because we kept moving from one completely different subject to another.
Joplin’s Mining History
Mining played an important role in Joplin’s history, and the museum included exhibits devoted to the area’s mining industry.
There were displays of rocks and minerals found in the region along with information explaining how different minerals were used.
There were also fossils and an especially interesting collection of naturally fluorescent minerals.
Under the proper lighting, the rocks appeared to glow.
It was fascinating.
Even if geology isn’t normally something you seek out on vacation, displays like these have a way of pulling you in.
Local History and Route 66
The museum also included exhibits about prominent people and events from Joplin’s history, along with beautiful furnishings and other historical objects.
And, naturally, there was Route 66.
Joplin’s location along the historic highway makes Route 66 an important part of the area’s story.
For us, that made the museum especially relevant because Route 66 was becoming part of our own journey west.
Bonnie and Clyde in Joplin
Here’s one piece of Joplin history we weren’t expecting.
Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow spent time in Joplin during their notorious crime spree.
Bonnie, Clyde, and other members of their gang stayed in a garage apartment in the area during the 1930s. After a confrontation with law enforcement, belongings were left behind.
The museum had an exhibit connected with Bonnie and Clyde’s time in Joplin.
And, of course, once we learned the story, we had to go find the actual garage apartment too.
That’s the fun of discovering local history while traveling. One museum exhibit leads you to another place, and suddenly you’re standing somewhere connected to a story you’ve heard about your entire life.
An Amazing Antique Doll Collection
The Joplin museum also had an antique doll exhibit that we weren’t expecting.
It was fantastic.
We’ve visited a lot of museums during our travels, but we’d never seen anything quite like this collection.
This is another reason we enjoy smaller regional museums. They frequently contain collections that you’d never think to search for on their own.
You simply walk around a corner and discover something completely unexpected.
The National Cookie Cutter Historical Museum
Then there was perhaps the most unusual museum of the day:
The National Cookie Cutter Historical Museum.
Yes, a museum devoted to cookie cutters.
It was tiny—only a few hundred square feet—but contained an incredible amount of information.
This is exactly the kind of quirky little attraction we love finding on the road.
Not everything needs to be a huge museum or nationally famous destination to be worth stopping for.
Sometimes you just want to be able to say:
“We found a cookie cutter museum!”
George Washington Carver National Monument
One of our most memorable historical stops in the area was the George Washington Carver National Monument.
We knew the name George Washington Carver, of course, but visiting the museum gave us a much greater appreciation for just how innovative he was.
Carver’s interests and research extended into agriculture, food, and other practical applications of plants and natural resources.
What impressed us most was his curiosity.
He experimented, observed, learned, and then taught others what he discovered.
The museum did an excellent job of telling his story, and we came away with far more appreciation for the scope of his work than we’d had before visiting.
Why Joplin and Carthage Are Worth a Stop
Joplin and Carthage may not be the first destinations that come to mind when you think about a Missouri vacation.
But that’s exactly why we enjoyed them.
Within a relatively small area, we found:
- Historic Route 66
- Beautiful downtown architecture
- Civil War history
- The Battle of Carthage
- Joplin’s mining history
- Bonnie and Clyde history
- Antique dolls
- The National Cookie Cutter Historical Museum
- The Kansas-Missouri-Oklahoma Tri-State Marker
- George Washington Carver National Monument
- And some wonderfully friendly people
There’s enough here that you could easily spend more than a day exploring.
A Great Stop on a Route 66 Road Trip
If you’re following Historic Route 66 through Missouri, don’t treat Joplin as simply another town to drive through on your way toward Kansas and Oklahoma.
Get off the road for a while.
Visit the museums. Explore downtown Carthage. Learn about the Civil War battle. Find out why mining was so important to Joplin. Hunt down the Bonnie and Clyde connection.
And definitely stop at the visitor center.
You never know what you might walk out with!
This area reminded us why we chose to travel the country the way we do.
The famous destinations are wonderful, but some of our favorite experiences have come from slowing down long enough to discover the stories hiding in America’s smaller towns.
We’ll see you down the road…and Over The Hills!
Continue the Journey
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