After the war, the area was used by a mining company, before passing into private hands and eventually the administration of the United States Forest Service.

The museum contains a fiber optic display, as well as artifacts including Brigadier General Thomas Ewing Jr.'s sword.

[5] Fort Davidson was constructed in 1863 near the base of Pilot Knob in order to better protect those features.

[8] An 1864 inspection produced a report finding that the terrain of the mountains exposed defenders of Fort Davidson to potential enfilade fire.

[12] In September 1864, Major General Sterling Price of the Confederate States Army led his Army of Missouri from Arkansas into Missouri with hopes of capturing St. Louis and challenging Union control of the state, in a campaign known as Price's Raid.

On September 24, Price learned that a Union force held the town of Pilot Knob, which represented one end of the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad.

Uncomfortable with having a Union garrison to the rear of his line of advance, Price decided to capture it.

Price, meanwhile, ordered part of his army under the command of Brigadier General Joseph O. Shelby to operate north of Pilot Knob and disrupt the railroad.

[10] On the morning of September 27, Confederate troops forced Union advance guards from the towns of Arcadia and Ironton.

[15] Men killed during the battle were buried by Confederate soldiers in a mass grave at the site.

[22] The ruins of Fort Davidson are preserved in the Battle of Pilot Knob State Historic Site.

The mass grave is marked with a granite monument bearing the inscription "Whatever transgressions existed on either side, let the passage of time bury amid the ruins of the past".

Among other things, the building contains a research library, artifacts such as Ewing's sword, and a fiber optic display.