Mound Ridge Camp and Retreat Center is a mission facility of the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy located in the Ozark Hills along the banks of the Meramec River near Saint James, Missouri. Mound Ridge is a fully equipped, all season camp and retreat center located on 370 acres of open land and oak forest in the upper reaches of the Meramec River near the well known Meramec Springs Park. Facilities include a rustic stone lodge (with a wonderful fireplace for warm, cozy winter days), four large sleeping cabins, dining and recreation halls, swimming pool, nature center, outdoor pavilion, and outdoor chapel, as well as recreational and camping areas and nature trails.

Explore the many wonders of God’s creation at Mound Ridge Camp and Retreat Center. A camping week or weekend, day outing, leadership training, day use, weekday use, family and group float trips, weddings and receptions. Mound Ridge in it's 55 years of mission and ministry is a precious memory for many, young and old. Make it one of yours.

This is a Holy Place. It has been sanctified by the people who have gone before, and by those who visit it now.

In the late Woodland Period, a group of prehistoric people, presently called the Meramec Indians, lived in the caves and cliffs along the river. The two low mounds on the property near the camp entrance may have been their work. Other Indian tribes who have lived here or briefly passed through include the Osage, Kickapoo, Choctaw, Quapaw and Chippewa. The summer cabins bear their names.

Then there were the fur traders and French miners. Fast forward to the Louisiana Purchase in 1804 when these lands became part of the United States. Forty-five years later, in 1849, with dreams of a transcontinental railroad, the US government gave thousands of acres, including those where Mound Ridge stands, to the State of Missouri as the source of funds and right-of-way for construction of the Pacific Railroad. Several post-Civil War title documents, which are at the Crawford County courthouse, bear the signatures of Gen. John C. Fremont, the “Pathfinder”, and his wife Jessie Benton Fremont.