Fort Zumwalt is a real place, and not just the name of four high schools, and this reconstruction of the fortified log cabin that gives its name to the surrounding park and area gives us an idea of early settler days in St. Charles County.

Interestingly, Fort Zumwalt, which was originally constructed by Jacob Zumwalt in 1798, who acquired the land from the Spanish in 1796, later came into the possession of the Heald family who survived the Fort Dearborn Massacre in Chicago.

The Healds built this beautiful house nearby, and later this property became a Missouri state park. Interestingly, it also holds the distinction of becoming a former state park when it was transferred to O’Fallon.

The park now serves the city and is a nice oasis in the middle of suburbia.

We wondered if this was an accident or intentional imprint of leaves in wet concrete.