Tearin’ Down the Mountains
by Dale Grubaugh
Driving around Branson this weekend, I couldn’t help but notice an increase in traffic. More traffic means business is good. Folks are coming to Branson this weekend because of the Annual Car Show, the tax-free shopping for back-to-school items, the shows, attractions...and because it is summer and we have three big lakes.
Folks have been coming to Ozark Mountain country for a long time and for a lot of reasons.
The earliest visitors came in search of the beauty of the region they had read about in Harold Bell Wright’s book The Shepherd of the Hills. They came looking for Old Matt and his cabin. They wanted to see Aunt Mollie settin on the porch peeling a bowl of potatoes.
They wanted to catch a glimpse of Young Matt and his steam engine, to see the sheep ranch in Mutton Hollow, Uncle Ikes’ Post office. And of course, the hills, the beautiful Ozark hills we call home.
A lot of changes have come to the Ozark Mountain Country — changes needed to accommodate all of our visitors:
The lakes, Silver Dollar City, Shepherd of the Hills Farm and Outdoor Theatre, music shows, motels, restaurants shopping malls and new roads. There was a time around here when building was done in relationship to the land. We made our buildings fit the landscape. Nowadays, developers are changing the land to fit the building.
I made up a little song to demonstrate this fact: Where, oh where, have the Ozark Hills gone? / Where they are is a mystery to me / There’s just parking lots and shopping malls / Where the lovely hills used to be.
Now, I’m not against progress.
I am happy so many people want to come to our area. Those folks have put clothes on my family’s back for a lot of years and I am deeply thankful.
It just saddens me that the hills which first brought folks here are slowly being taken down. We can replant trees and shrubs, but we can’t rebuild the hills and God ain’t makin’ any more of them either.
Maybe we would do well to remember the old sayin‘ “dance with the one that brung ya” ... or rather, brung them.
’Till next time,
Elias Tucker
August 9, 2009
plate 1.
plate 2.
plate 3.
About the columnist:
Dale Grubaugh, writing as “Elias Tucker from The Holler” is a valued contributor to State of the Ozarks. He is a man who loves his Ozark culture deeply.
As a Southern Baptist preacher and pastor, Dale has dedicated his life to the people of these hills.
Also, he has worked hard in many facets of the Branson show industry. And he has lived the Ozarks, fishing, hunting, appreciating the wilds that are so close — but so closely forgotten.
— Joshua Heston, editor
plate 4.
plate 5.
©StateoftheOzarks.net2007-2009 July 12, 2009
