Lake of the Ozarks is not natural water wearing a resort costume. It is ninety-two miles of Osage River in a lake costume, a serpentine reservoir people call the Missouri Dragon, addressed by mile marker and arm like a highway. Bagnell Dam made it between 1929 and 1931; Ameren and the FERC guide curve still make it breathe down in winter and refill toward the vacation season. Dock lights. Steep coves. Exposed rock rings. Boat sound folded around bends. Then the lake splits open into its stranger parts. Ha Ha Tonka on the Niangua Arm: karst, a spring pouring tens of millions of gallons a day, a burned castle on the bluff. Public park, private docks, state geology, hydroelectric paperwork. The same water carrying a ruins walk and a dock permit. Anderson Hollow, Party Cove, a floating weekend crowd inside the state park boundary. The Shootout selling speed as spectacle. After dark, Eastern Whip-poor-will, Barred Owl, Common Nighthawk. The loudest lake in the batch by reputation, with Ozark night sound underneath it. Hydroelectric discipline under vacation noise.
curator · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
The facts
- Surface area 185.5 km² usgs-3dhp · lake-level · as of Jun 2, 2026
- Nearest town Dodds · 2.3 km osm-overpass · lake-level · as of Jun 2, 2026
- Bird species (within 25 mi) 161 ebird-api-v2 · lake-level · as of Jun 2, 2026
- Bird diversity index 0.89 ebird-api-v2 · lake-level · as of Jun 2, 2026
- Median home value $244,925 census-acs-2024-b25077 · block-group-level · as of Jun 2, 2026
- Water clarity Moderate sentinel-2-l2a · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
- Night sky Darkest skies viirs-black-marble-vnp46a4 · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
- Surroundings Resort — a shoreline built for visitors curator · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
- Water origin Reservoir curator · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
In more detail
- Climate
- strongly four-season; cool winters (~35°F mean), hot summers (~77°F); ~43 in precip/yr curator · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
- Public access
- Mixed public/private: two state parks anchor public access — Lake of the Ozarks State Park (Missouri’s largest, holding the Grand Glaize Arm shoreline incl. the Party Cove / Anderson Hollow boundary) and Ha Ha Tonka State Park (~3,751 ac on the Niangua Arm, karst trails + spring) — plus public boat ramps; the bulk of the ~1,150 mi of shoreline is private, every dock permitted by Ameren under its FERC Shoreline Management Plan. Sources: mostateparks.com (Ha Ha Tonka + LotO State Park); Ameren SMP (Osage Project No. 459); Wikipedia (Party Cove park boundary). [Boat-ramp count not enumerated this pass — pp-chg curator-read if needed.] curator · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
- Dogs and pets
- medium — 0 dog parks within 25 mi (OSM); state rule: Domestic pets in Missouri state parks must be restrained by a leash no longer than 10 feet (held by a person or fixed to a stationary object) at all times; pets are prohibited inside state park/historic-site buildings and in public swimming areas and beaches. (RSMo 253.185 / 10 CSR 90-2.020 (Park Management) / Missouri State Parks pet policy, fetched 2026-07-12); No lake-specific pet exceptions (off-leash beach/dog park, additional bans) found for Lake of the Ozarks State Park or Ha Ha Tonka State Park beyond the statewide leash/beach rule. The official Lake of the Ozarks State Park page (mostateparks.com/park/lake-ozarks-state-park) links only to the general statewide pet policy with no park-specific pet content. Search run: "Lake of the Ozarks State Park pets dog beach rules" returned only SEO/directory sites (BringFido, TripAdvisor) which are not treated as evidence per sourcing rules; no primary-source lake-specific exception surfaced. curated-web-harvest · lake-level · as of Jul 12, 2026
- Property tax
- 0.47% ACS effective-rate proxy (2024 ACS 5-year; Camden County anchor: $1,426 median real-estate taxes paid ÷ $305,400 median owner-occupied home value; Missouri proxy 0.85%, -0.38 percentage points). census-acs-2024-property-tax · county-level · as of Dec 31, 2024
Where it’s heading
Stable hand-rated for v0.1 · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
Major Missouri resort/second-home reservoir (Osage Beach / Bagnell Dam Strip; condos, marinas). Ongoing development but no named fast-growth-county or permit/listing-velocity source secured this pass; rated stable as an established large-resort market. Density resort. Hand-rated for v0.1.