The Big Shoal Heritage Area is home to Gladstone Missouri's first historic preservation project. The Atkins-Johnson Farm and Museum and the Big Shoal Cemetery are both located on the east side of Gladstone, sitting at what was once the edge of the American West.
 
Atkins-Johnson Farm and Museum: Originally a two-story log cabin built between 1831-1834, this home is recognized as one of the oldest continuously occupied homes in Clay County. The original log home was converted into a four-room I-house in 1853 by the Atkins family. The home is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places as a 1900-era Missouri farmstead. The museum displays original family heirlooms and artifacts discovered during the restoration process and special exhibits related to farm life, local history, and life in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A heritage garden is on-site to give visitors a taste of heirloom produce traditionally grown on Missouri farms in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Visitors can appreciate the time and labor needed to meet basic necessities such as food provision.

Big Shoal Historic Cemetery: The Big Shoal Cemetery was established in 1824 for use by congregates of the Big Shoal Primitive Baptist Church that it once surrounded. The land was donated by the Hightower and Atkins family. The Big Shoal Cemetery is the final resting place for many veterans including six Civil War veterans, a veteran of the War of 1812, and a veteran of the Blackhawk Indian Wars. It is also the resting place for John Bender, the founder of Acme Springs, MO on the east side of what is now Gladstone; today there are no remnants of the town left for visitors to see. A self-guided tour brochure is available at the Big Shoal Cemetery, along with reflection benches where the church once stood.