Castle Ruins at Ha Ha Tonka

I’m not 100% sure if the castle ruins at Ha Ha Tonka State Park would be considered an abandoned place since it’s a historic site within a state park, but it’s close enough for me. The castle ruins at Ha Ha Tonka were created after a turn of the century castle built in the area caught fire and was never rebuilt. The ruins include the castle itself, the carriage house and a water tower. We also visited a natural bridge nearby in the park and there are also springs, a place to swim, trails and lots of other stuff to do do and see in the park. Detailed information about Ha Ha Tonka can be found here.

Castle Ruins at Ha Ha Tonka State Park
Camdenton, MO
25 miles north of I-44 in Missouri
Free to visit.

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Here is the story of the castle ruins at Ha Ha Tonka. Robert M. Snyder, a rich dude from KC, started building the castle in 1903 but construction stopped abruptly when he died in one of Missouri’s first car accidents. His sons eventually completed the castle in the 20’s and then it was turned into a hotel. The castle caught fire, along with the carriage house, in 1942 and was never rebuilt. The water tower burned down later in 1978, around the same time Ha Ha Tonka became a state park.

The castle ruins at Ha Ha Tonka make for a great day trip if you live in Missouri, or a quick detour for a roadside attraction if you’re passing through Missouri on I-44. The park is an hour and half from Springfield, and around three hours from St. Louis or Kansas City. The park is marked with signs once you get there so it’s easy to drive around. The castle ruins themselves are on Google Maps so they can be found easily using GPS as well. It was only a short walk to the ruins from where we parked. It was also only a short walk to the natural bridge from the closest parking lot. There were also park maps around which you could pick up.

FYI – for safety reasons you can’t go inside the ruins, you can only walk along the outside. Same with the water tower, which is up a ton of stairs btw. You’ll see it in the photos.

Side note – I kept calling these ruins ‘the ruins of Harrenhal’ because we were watching Game of Thrones at the time. lol.

Castle Ruins at Ha Ha Tonka

Natural Bridge at Ha Ha Tonka

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