I discovered the August G. Beckemeier Conservation Area by chance along Olive Boulevard in Chesterfield, when I pulled over to take a cell phone call.

It turns out there is a half-mile wooded trail down to a Missouri River overlook. Portions of the property were once a peacock farm. A home of the Beckemeier family was torn down in 2007.

The trail opened to the public in 2008.

It's located 1.3 miles north of Faust County Park, between Hog Hollow and Ladue roads. 

The 54 acres were donated to the Missouri Department of Conservation in 1996 by Beckemeier's daughter, Minna Waldmann.

It was originally 135 acres with a house, when Beckemeier bought it in 1905.