With just 762 square miles and 24,000 residents, Washington County is among Missouri’s smaller regions. It was organized in August 1813 from Ste. Genevieve and named for George Washington. The county seat is Potosi. The town was named after Potosi, Bolivia, a silver mining town. “Potosi” is a South American Indian word for “place of much noise", other towns in the county are Caledonia, Irondale, Mineral Point.

Despite its size, the county is big on recreation. The Berrryman Camp & Trail National Forest is a 24-mile loop through the Mark Twain National Forest. A variety of Ozark flora and fauna is featured throughout the trail. The trail starts at Berryman Campground, the site of a Civilian Conservation Corps Camp of the same name from 1937 until the start of World War II.

Local legend has it that the Jesse James gang frequently camped in a cave near the trail. Other challenging trails that pass through the county are the Ozarks Trail, Trace Creek Trail and Moses Austin Trail. The historic "Trail of Tears", the route which carried the forced march of the Cherokee Indians from the Southeastern United States to a reservation in Oklahoma, passed through the county.

Other places of interest in the region: