U.S. Forest Service · Mark Twain National Forest · MO

Fuchs House

ReservableBookable through November 30, and from March 1 through October 15.
Book on recreation.govWe make nothing when you book
Right now
Taking bookingsSites offered on 27 of the next 30 nights read 17:07 UTC
Sites
1All of them booked ahead
410 ftElevation
60 ftWater · Markham Spring Pond
11.1 miSE of Piedmont, MO
83%Tree cover
Bortle 4Night sky · 54th darkest of 118 in MO

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there

In the agency’s own words

In the late 1930s, Rudolph Fuchs built a five bedroom concrete and native stone house for his family, and also built the present wheel house to produce electricity for his needs. Power was obtained by building a dam in a semi-circle below a large spring forming a small pond. The water was to pour through a chute on the wheel to produce electricity; however, electricity arrived to the site before the wheel ever needed to do its job. The area had an undershot wheel providing power to a grist mill in the late 19th century. Keep reading

Recreation

The Black River boasts bass, sunfish, walleye and catfish. Many anglers fish from boats, but others fish from the riverbanks. Canoeing and kayaking is also possible on the river. Various day hikes within the Markham Springs Trail System are accessible from the campground. Eagle Bluff Trail is a one and a half mile loop along the river, where birding and wildlife viewing are favorite pastimes. The day use area has a two-acre, 20 foot deep mill pond that dates back to the 1800s, several picnic sites, open fields; river access for boating, fishing and float tubes and canoes; and short hiking trails that provide views of the river, the pond, the springs and the uplands.

Facilities

The house has two downstairs bedrooms with queen beds, a single bed and a shared bathroom. Upstairs has a bathroom and three bedrooms each with a bunk bed and twin bed. The kitchen comes fully furnished as well as all the other rooms; however, you must bring your own linens, pillows and towels.

Natural Features

Located adjacent to the Black River, the recreation area contains a small pond that dates back to the 1800s. The area is covered by a dense forest of colorful trees, including ash, elm, maple and poplar. Six springs pour almost five million gallons of water per day into the pond, and the bubble spring, a smaller outlet of Markham Spring outside of the pond that has air with it which rises in the soft sand forming unique air bubbles.

Nearby Attractions

The Fuchs House is located in the Markham Springs Recreation Area. Camping with both electric sites and primitive sites, day use, and pavilion rental is available. The town of Williamsville is three miles from the Fuchs House and offers a general store ad fuel station.

Tents and rigs

Sites
1 · 1 cabin
Hookups
1 electric, 1 water
Accessible sites
None listed
Pets
Allowed
Campfires
Allowed, barring fire bans
Shade
Every site
Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Facilities

Store
Nearby
Source: Stated in the agency description · Aug 23, 2026

Around the campground

On the water
River
Source: Stated in the agency description · Aug 23, 2026

Something open on 17 of the next 27 bookable nightsread 17:07 UTC

Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.

OpenBookedNot on the booking system

The one site on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 1 is free on Mon, Oct 26. read 17:07 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t

Booking windowThrough November 30Bookable now through November 30, 2026, the end of this reservable season, and again for March 1, 2027 through October 15, 2027. Today at 10 AM ET, availability opens through October 16, 2027.recreation.gov
If plans change$10 to cancel$10 to change a reservationrecreation.gov’s schedule
Runs itU.S. Forest ServiceBooked through recreation.govthe agency’s record
Watch for a cancellation

Full? Watch it.

One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.

We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.

Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.
Tell me when the season opens

Watch for the season to open

One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.

We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.

Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.

We’ll write once, when the season that starts Mon, Mar 1 2027 is open for booking.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.
Book on recreation.gov

We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.

Every line of the receipt · 11

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
The U.S. Forest Service publishes no per-night rate for this campground that we can read, so there’s no sign price to print. That’s a gap in the record, not a free campground.
Rates for the season the campground is in now, Mar 1, 2026 to Nov 30, 2026.
Fuchs House is available for the following prices: Sunday- $125/night Monday- $125/night Tuesday- $125/night Wednesday- $100/night Thursday- $125/night Friday- $200/night Saturday- $200/night Weekend- $400/weekend Weekly Rate- $975/full week
The booking feerecreation.gov
Reservation fee, booked online$8
One fee per reservation, however many nights you book, and it’s non-refundable. $9 if you book by phone, $3 in person.
Pass discounts only apply to the recreation (or use) fee for the facility. Other charges such as electricity or water hookups, reservation or other fees are not eligible for a discount.
What a stay costs
The agency publishes no nightly rate for this campground, so there’s nothing to add the $8 booking fee to. We won’t total a receipt with a number missing from it.
If your plans changerecreation.gov
Change fee, moving to dates outside your booking$10
Cancellation fee$10
Cancelling the day before, or the day of$10 + your first night
No-show$20 + your first night

Who keeps the booking fee

The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →

How we know this receipt · 4

recreation.gov availability, read 17:07 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

The sites

1 sites · the site map

All 1 sites

1 of 1 sites located
Cabin or shelter1
Aerial · Esri World Imagery
Sleeps
FUCHS HOUSEFuchs Housecabin electric67 ft

Getting there

the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Coordinate36.97806, -90.60333
The phone573-341-5488
The agency’s pageOfficial page ↗

Where it is

Getting there

From Poplar Bluff, take Highway 67 north for 14 miles, then drive west on Highway 49 for 9 miles (about 3 miles past the town of Williamsville). Take the first right after crossing the Black River to enter Markham Springs Recreation Area. The drive way to the Fuchs House will be the first Forest Road on the left.

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Today59°Partly Sunny1% rain
Tonight38°Mostly Cloudy
Saturday60°Sunny
Saturday Night32°Clear then Areas Of Frost

NWS forecast for Williamsville, MO

Typical weather

Typical October night 45°F, day 70°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical January night 23°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

100°32°10°

Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more

A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.

Measured at: CLEARWATER DAM, MO (USC00231674), 14 miles away and 250 ft higher

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

What threatens this place

critical
Mark Twain National Foresttransfer, logging, mining

You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.

Source: MTJP Threatened Lands map · Oct 3, 2026

Who answers for this land

Jason Smith, official portrait

Fuchs House is in Missouri’s 8th congressional district. Its representative, Jason Smith (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: recreation.gov is offering sites on 27 of the next 30 nights, which isn’t something a closed campground does.
Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.
Nearest place of any size: Williamsville, MO, 2.8 mi W. Straight line.