History & Culture

The Ozark Region is rich in history. People have lived here from the late Ice Age, some 10,000 years ago to the present. Every time and every group of people has a story to tell. This page will help you learn some of these stories.

 

National Park Service References:

• Alley Mill
• Rural Ozark Women Ethnographic Study
• Pulltite or Pulltight?
• Cemeteries in the Ozarks
• Place Names in the Ozarks
• One Room Schools in the Ozarks
• Welch Hospital
• Klepzig Mill
• Rymers Ranch and the Birth of the Ozark Riverways
• Establishment of the Ozark Riverways
• Civilian Conservation Corps in the Ozarks
• A Homeland and A Hinterland (Excellent online book about the history of the region)
• Park Museum Collections Info.

External Links to Information:

• Civil War in the Ozarks(fast connection recommended)
• History of West Eminence Lumber Era
• The Preservation of Suzie Nichols Cabin and Klepzig Mill
• Bow Hunting and Gigging History
• Fox Hunting and Fish Gigging,an oral history interview
• Traditional folk song recordings
• Index to Ozark History Documents at Springfield Library
• List of folklore links from Missouri Folklore Society

 

This was the scene at the Civilian Conservation Camp that filled the field in front of the Big Spring Lodge in the mid 1930s. In time the tents were replaced by wooden barracks. The CCC helped young people build self esteem through work skills, allowed them to send money home, and helped build the infrastructure of today's national and state park systems.

 

This is a typical log house of the early Ozark settlers. Houses like this were in use from the 1840s until fairly recently. Some are still in use as hay barns and sheds. Note the family is dressed up for the rare and formal occasion of having their picture taken.

 

"Keep your rivers flowing as they will, and you will continue to know the most important of all freedoms-the boundless scope of the human mind to contemplate wonders, and to begin to understand their meaning." - (David Brower, The Foreword to Oregon Rivers by Larry Olson and John Daniel)