Places To Go

Many visitors like to start their park experience at the visitor center. Orientation services and basic visitor information are available at the information desk. This is the location of the passport cancellation stamp. Stop by the park store and browse the products. The visitor center is open daily, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

A bust of George Washington Carver stands in a small plaza at the end of the Carver trail. The cast concrete bust was created by Audrey Corwin in 1952 and presented to the park at its dedication in 1953 by the George Washington Carver Memorial Institute. An audio box inset into the base plays a recording of George Washington Carver reciting Edgar A. Guest poem, “Equipment,” at a 1942 commencement address at Selma University.

When Moses and Susan Carver moved to southwest Missouri, they built a small 14 x 14 cabin. Eventually that same cabin was inhabited by an enslaved young woman named Mary, who was purchased by Moses Carver in 1855 and gave birth to George Washington Carver towards the end of the Civil War. Today visitors can see the approximate area where the cabin once stood with a wooden frame outline. .

Robert Amendola sculpted this tribute to young George Washington Carver in 1961 and entitled it “Boy Carver Statue.” The statue depicts George tenderly cradling a plant in his left hand, illustrating his love and respect for nature. It shows why, as a young child, he was called “The Plant Doctor.”