Rock City

Location

Aug 20

If you’re looking for a unique location with a grunge aesthetic, look no further than Rock City. This old quarry turned park makes for perfect senior pictures around an old and abandoned stone building. You can also find a hiking trail surrounded by trees for some nature portraits, and head over by one of the caves for a unique background. Rock City is perfect for one-hour sessions.

Check out my list of the top senior picture locations in St. Louis, MO to get inspired by more locations to have your senior pictures taken.

The Best Part About Rock City

Rock City isn’t your urban city or your wooded forest. It features an old stone building with rusty doors, glassless windows, and even boulders around the premises. There’s a concreate structure that is perfect for leaning against or sitting next to, and the open caves left from the quarry are perfect for dark backgrounds. They even have a wooden wall left up that’s perfect to stand next to, sit against, or lean on.

The building itself offers many spots for portraits. You can climb up on the window ledge and lean back against the window or sit on the ledge. The doors are also great for leaning on, and the boulders make for perfect seats. Step away from the building a bit and you can take some portraits with it in the background, whether you’re standing or sitting.

And if you’re looking to add a bit of nature to your senior pictures at Rock City, just step on over to the beginning of the trail where there’s tall grasses and trees galore. This path is surrounded by nature. You can climb in the tall grasses, sit or stand on the path, or step into the trees. If you walk a little further down the path, you can even climb up on some of the boulders that were blown out of the caves when the quarry was active.

Disclaimer: It is illegal to trespass inside the building or inside the caves. This is for your safety.

What to Expect Each Season

Spring

In the spring, the area is surrounded in beautiful light greens from all the trees. It livens up Rock City a bit, giving the background behind the old stone building a bit more color. This also engulfs the trail in beautiful color as well.

Summer

Rock City is out in the open sun unless you walk down the trail a little way, so it can get hot. Everything is now blooming though, so the trees will give the background some color against the stone building. You’ll even have color on the trail since it’s surrounded by trees.

Fall

When it turns fall here, everything starts to blend. The trees turn orange, red, and yellow and are perfect for beautiful colors down the trail. This is also the perfect spot to find a lot of leaves falling off the trees if you want a leaf covered pathway or leaves to throw. The old stone building is also a red and orange tint, so it fits in well with the fall colors.

Winter

All the plants are dormant now, so the trail won’t have much color at all, but the old stone building and cave don’t need many or any plants in the background at all. This makes Rock City a good location for winter portraits since you won’t need to worry about seeing many dormant plants in the background. You can also come out here after it snows for some unique senior pictures.