The Lewis & Clark Boat House and Museum is a proud member of the Lewis & Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, a destination on the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail, a member of the St. Charles Regional Chamber, and a member of the American Alliance of Museums. Our building is something of a marvel. Tantalizingly close to the Missouri River, we are actually part of the Federally designated “floodway”. That means our structure can’t impact the river levels upstream.

So, our building is created to let floodwaters flow underneath. Most recently, in 2019, we moved our four boats and workshop either offsite or upstairs. We shut the museum down, waited for the water to recede and began the hard work of scrubbing and re-opening.

The upside of our location? Nowhere on the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail can you experience a museum so close to the living, powerful Missouri River. We are in the heart of historic St. Charles, MO, the final outpost of “civilization” when Lewis and Clark came through. The expedition partied, and prayed, and made irreversible decisions on the crew, the supplies and the strategies before they departed in the afternoon.

We are also just steps away from the First Missouri State Capitol State Historic Site and the Katy Trail State Park.

The four boats and workshop are at ground level, viewable from a viewing stand. Most days, you’ll see our team at work, keeping either the museum or the boats in good shape.