For a long time, the only history known here
was what people brought with them. Those who came here had no way
of maintaining ties to the people they had left behind. There was
no mail delivery, no roads, and no local institutions. Isolation was
only matched by the scarcity of resources.
Folkways
Does
anyone in your family tell stories of times long ago? Do you suspect
they may have made some of them up? Does anyone in your family grow
white corn streaked with red, and grind it for cornbread? Welcome
to Ozarks folklore and folkways.
History
Works is a hands-on multidisciplinary
experience in local history for area 4th grade students. Field trips
took place at the Harlin Museum in West Plains in November 2006.
Classroom work emphasizes primary historical documents to research
life in West Plains in the early 20th century.
This period of increased awareness of Lewis
and Clark’s expedition is a good time to explore the journal of
Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, one of the first white travelers to make
detailed notes of a journey through the Ozarks at the moment of
very early settlement.
Memories of the early days, from interviews
with residents of Douglas County. Original source material from
the Western Historical Manuscripts Collection, U.S. Work Projects
Administration, 1935-42.
When Tommy Medlock of Gentryville
was 95, he told of the days when Bryant Creek was the center of
economic life in the area. He talked about the good times and
the hard times of those days.
For a long time, the only history known here
was what people brought with them. Those who came here had no way
of maintaining ties to the people they had left behind. There was
no mail delivery, no roads, and no local institutions. Isolation was
only matched by the scarcity of resources. 
