MO-AR-WRV-L Archives

From: "Vonda Sheets" <>
Subject: [MO-AR-WRV] hot and hotter
Date: Sun, 8 Jul 2001 17:45:26 -0500

Howdy!
Well, the convention center plans are in "slow" mode--hopefully, despite the
press releases to the contrary, Branson aldermen and the county
commissioners won't let things happen before a complete investigation into
the Jacobsen Group is finished.

We are having heat advisories, as I guess much of the Midwest is at the
time. I, for one, would like to see the cooldown period that July is famous
for--really soon...
Yesterday, 7 Jul, Ingrid and I took off and went gallivantin' down to AR.
Our initial plans were to visit the Ozarks Folk Center in Mountain View,
Stone Co. AR (for more information, see http://www.ozarkfolkcenter.com );
and possibly get ourselves an air-conditioned motel room with a pool after a
day playing in history.

We left Branson about 9 AM, me at the helm of the "Chivy" that I seem to
have taken over from Greg once again. Had a cooler full of ice & water,
soda, snacks, a small overnight bag for each of us, and my trusty ol' AR
Atlas and Gazetteer (deLorme's topographical atlas, invaluable for any
genealogist wanting to study their family's home places). Filled up with
gas--and if you are curious, it's $1.23/gal right now on Seven Falls Hill,
east of Branson. Mileage on "Chivy" read 133586 (yep, he's gettin' up
there, but as dependable as they come).
Headed south on US Hwy 65 down into Boone Co. I mentioned last year, and
I'll mention again--Hwy 65 in AR is blessedly free of billboards--you
actually get to see the land.
Circled around downtown Harrison--neither of us inclined to eat "brunch"
yet--and continued on 65, heading south and east towards Marshall, AR.
Nipped at the extreme NE corner of Newton County, through Western Grove, and
waved "Howdy" at the distant Mt. Sherman and Jasper over west of us. Then
we got on into Searcy County, and Ingrid, who's been down this way before,
starts talking about these plate-size cinnamon rolls at this restaurant near
Gilbert.
Hwy 65 at this point is 2 lane, with no shoulders--a once-typical Ozarks'
highway--going through some absolutely gorgeous mountains and valleys. I
was not happy, because it's not fair that it's so pretty down there...we
have not been having dry conditions this year, and everything's all shades
of green, with the haze our Ozarks' hills are noted for hanging over all. I
try to describe it to y'all on occasion, but I really don't have the words
to do it justice. I've heard tell that instead of going up to the
mountains, around here, we go down into the valleys. That'd be about
right...but you still realize just how old these hills are, when you look at
things from a geological point of view. It's said that the Ozarks were a
much bigger mountain range than the Rockies ever were.

Wal, we turned off 65 at Ferguson's (the restaurant) onto Co. Rd 333--the
atlas calls it "Duff"--and went downnnnnn to Gilbert, which was (is?) a
small village on the Buffalo National River, 3 miles or so off Hwy 65. The
townsite is well kept, up on a bluff overlooking the Buffalo, but there's an
old general store which is now a canoe rental place for floaters down on the
river...the store building is what you'd recognize from movies, roughly 2
stories tall, built of brick, with big windows and a big ol' porch right on
front. They sell grocery and sundries for floaters. The high walls had
wooden shelves more than halfway to the ceiling, and a corner was set aside
for the old post office, with its boxes still on display.
These folks are proud of their background, and it shows.
Back up to Hwy 65, we decided against the cinnamon rolls, and trekked on, to
Marshall. There, we turned east and north on St. Rd 74, where we rolled
through the old Cherokee country, with villages named Baker, Thola and
Newnata (along with others). By this time, we were in Stone Co. AR (are you
keeping track of the counties yet? <BG>), and we were surrounded by high
knobby mountains and a higher elevation than we have here in Taney. These
"hills" are rougher country, and wildly beautiful. The roads are old, and
springs/creeks are many. We saw a lot of houses that, if they weren't old
to begin with, had obviously been built on original settlers' homesites.
In Mountain View, we turned north on Hwys 5, 9 & 14, and then went down 382,
to the Ozarks Folk Center.
This is a neat village with craftsmen and musicians truly bringing our pasts
to life. Set on the side of a hill, there's a shuttle going up to the
village from parking. (Here's the link again--
http://www.ozarkfolkcenter.com ) They have what are called "Heritage Herb
Gardens", planted with both medicinal and cooking herbs, that were in full
bloom. They had apparently held "Young Pioneer Days" this past week, and
children were able to dress in costume, and do arts and crafts projects
based on our history. Many of the craftspeople were housed in 6-sided
buildings with--thankfully--air conditioning, and room for spectators to
watch in comfort. All the buildings, whether authentically old or built for
the park, are true in style to the Ozarks, with rockwork and timber being
predominant. The walkways are cement sidewalks, and there are benches and
shelters placed throughout, for folks to sit and listen to music.
I bought Greg a hillbilly fishing lure in the woodshop--it's a carved piece
of wood about 2 inches long, with a treble hook on the bottom--LOL painted
red with a fuse coming out the backend (I know people who used to fish with
real dynamite, but not anymore).
We saw a group of women, spinning wheels clicking along, in the
administrative center. There was a blacksmith, weaver, candlemaker,
soapmaker, and much more. It's not a large park, but it is extremely
well-designed, and wonderful!
Ingrid and I ate barbecue sandwiches when we got there at noon. By 2
o'clock, we'd been over the park twice, and figured we might as well hit the
road. We didn't know if we were going to make it back home yet, but it was
still early enough to do some more gallivantin'.

More to come!

Vonda
ListMom for MOTaney and MO-AR-WRV
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~moarwrv/
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gregvonda/

This thread:

• [MO-AR-WRV] hot and hotter by "Vonda Sheets" <>