Waverly, MO

Waverly sits in Lafayette County on the Missouri River's northern bend, part of the Kansas City metro but with an orchard-and-river identity of its own. The city is known as the Apple Capital of Missouri, a nod to the fruit-growing country around it. Baltimore Bend Conservation Area preserves wooded bluffs overlooking the river between Waverly and Dover, while Baltimore Bend Vineyard turns that river story into a local stop with Missouri wines, cheese, and sausage. The 2020 census counted 784 residents.

Waverly grew in the 1840s and took its name from an early settler's hometown in Illinois. A bridge over the Missouri River sits nearby, tying the town to the crossing and floodplain that shaped its setting. The Santa Fe R-X district operates Santa Fe Elementary in Waverly, while Kansas City's pull reaches through the region. The town also carries the memory of General Jo Shelby, who lived here as a hemp farmer before the Civil War. Waverly is the kind of river town where orchards, wine, school routes, and levee country share the same everyday map.