Remember riding the back roads with no traffic and heading to the swimming hole, taking long walks down endless roads and long walks in the woods. Yes I miss the country life of the mountain and going to church in a one room old school house.
Got married in a one room church in 1970. We had to prop up the wire that held the sheet separating Sunday schools. And to answer the question you may have.....nope, different wife now.
Shannon county is technically the poorest county in the state, but you wouldn't know it driving through. Beautiful farms and happy people. Money does not equal wealth.
When I watch these videos, I grew up in part just like it. I was raised in San Antonio, Texas but spent every summer from birth to about 17 on my grandmother's 88 acre farm in rural southern Arkansas. She didn't have a bathroom until 1963 or a phone until 1968. She had an outhouse, a two holer. She walk a mile to use the neighbor's telephone. She raise a wonderful garden every year, bought only coffee, sugar and lard and toiletries. Meat was a big deal, it was mainly peas, corn, rolls with butter, and ice tea. Granny cooked like a pro, cakes, pies and cookies and she dipped Garett snuff up until she died in 1994 at 93. She wore a bonnet while working in the garden or milking her cow. What you see in this video is what I saw all my growing up years. I'm 67 today in 2021 and still work occasionally for the hell of it. Life is good when it's lived in 2nd gear.
Times were so much better than. I keep re-watching this because it makes me wish the world was like this today. I know all those older gentleman and women Who have passed on by now I probably turning in their graves at what the world has come to even in their small towns.
That is funny I was just thinking the same thing that you commented I wished America could be like that instead of what is turning into America that I love
I’m watching this July 2020. What a world we have become. We were led astray, Utterly sad. No one has gratitude, but are blind and filled with indifference and dark hearts. Depraved even through a pandemic. I’m glad our grandparents and parents at least for some of us never had to live and see this day.
@ 2:11 Mr. Freeman Hughes at the age of 83 got over that fence quicker than most 30 somethings today could! Staying active is the best way to grow old gracefully.
It is now November 2018 and I have just finished watching this. I love that I was born in the Arkansas ozarks and was able to return to it to live out most of my life. This brought back a lot of old memories, fond memories, of an era that is long gone. Most of the people in this video are now gone. I guess I am just a sap, but the old ways and the old timers are dear to my heart. I miss them both.
I really enjoy watching this. Most of my life I lived in the Detroit suburbs. I still live in Michigan but after my parents passed away I bought a new house out in the country in a small town. I love the wild life and the clean fresh air. People take things a little slower out here.
The young people gathering together on Saturday nights makes me remember a time before internet, video games, and cell phones. The late '70s was the last hurrah for the old ways.
No not really I was born in 77 and a teen in the 90s. That was really the last era of the old days. Yeah we had tv, but we didn't have mobile phones or the internet till the late 90s. I am thankful for that as I'd never would have graduated high school if I had the internet and social media back then as I'm too distracted . My kids have such a different upbringing as we have so much tech now
I wonder how many people, like myself, are envious of how these people live. I know that this was made years ago, and I wonder how these folks are and where they are today. I'd love to visit there for a while some day, not as a tourist, but just as a visitor. Blessings to all in Shannon Co. Mo.
I live in the back woods of NB, other than electricity and now Safelite internet , we heat with wood , harvest that ourselves , bake our own bread , make our own wine. Town is 35 miles away and is just a twice a month trip the balance we remain on our 55 acres in the woods. I don't know where you live but while the good times with good folks and music is real and maybe alluring, the fact is it's somewhat hard no restaurants movies etc and that's if you could afford it and definitely no cruises beaches or vacations. It may sound enticing and for us that live it it is. For the majority of city folk , no cell phone , isolation etc they would just curl up like a baby , cry and then did. This type of lifestyle is only for some
I’ve lived in Ozarks part in Arkansas it’s terrible it’s all apartments and no one knows how to drive all most no forest left because there’s all apartments Most people don’t know how to dress properly I don’t know about the Missouri part But the Arkansas part is bad
Been fighting the decision to move up there for 30 years. This documentary, even though it's 40 or 50 years old, has convinced me to pack up my Jeep and head 2 North Arkansas/South Missouri. I'm there!
Thank you to post this, just so many good memories. In 1978 I was teenager living in a small town southern Indiana, looking back now these were the best times....I wish I can relive again. Now the 2021 world makes no sense, all is crazy...some politicians in office then or shortly after are still holding office now, the drug problem has magnified 1000x, back then police was servants to people but now todays mentality is police for profit from forfiture and seizure of private property, crime now has become??? And covid world wide pendamic causing complete economic shutdowns....please, I want to return to simpler times.
I was 14 in 1978 and like you Gary it was the best years of my life! We lived on my grandpa’s farm! My daddy worked my momma stayed home and took care of me and my sister and we raised our own food hogs for pork steers for our beef and chickens running everywhere and my grandpa, daddy and uncle John all hunted and we ate what they killed and didn’t think nothing about and people helped each other I remember the family all got together when we killed hogs they came help us and daddy and uncle John went and help them and we all shared the meat! If you needed help everybody would help you damn I miss do miss those days!! Me and my cousins ran wild on the farm hunting fishing and just being free!! Damn Gary I want to go back too if you find a way let us all know!!
The Ozark hill folk , are a close kin to the people in southern Appalachia , we here in ky ,Tenn, north Ga. Live the same way . I love my Appalachian roots , but if yiu take a close look at America we were all at one time had this way of life. Time , invention , and money has caused many to lose there roots . No matter where you come from , coast to coast . The people that came before you had a much harder life and the history of those lives has much wisdom & knowledge to be appreciated . Thanks for this upload.
Our generations have lost their true north.. now.. even though I believe in some advancement and even college... I believe that you go to stay close to the old ways and the old roots are you going to lose your way and won't know what to do about it....
From 1972 - 1976 my family lived just over the line in Oregon County, south of Not, Missouri, In Shannon County, and our post office was in Birch Tree, Shannon County. We hippies hauled hay for the local farmers, raised a little vegetable patch, made quilts, and milked goats. I won a Halloween costume contest for the kids in Birch Tree, and i remember Teresita and Monteir, although we mostly shopped in Mountain View. When the family broke up, i moved to Willow Springs, in Howell County, and eventually returned to my home state of California. The sad news out of the Ozarks these days is all about drug abuse, alcoholism, no jobs, and a lost way of life.
Thank you, Mizzou, for making these two videos about Shannon County. My Grandparents and parents bought a weekend farm in neighboring Reynolds County in 1954, after spending weekends in that county since 1947. My family and I moved to the farm from St. Louis, Missouri, full-time in 1978 and lived there until my wife passed away in 2005. My job took me to Shannon, Carter, Dent, Oregon, Iron, and Madison counties(among others). I've been watching RUclips videos for 13 years since I retired and these two videos are the best I've ever seen.
I was Appalachian Mountain/Williamson West Virginia borned but was raised as a Missouri Show Me Gal... Thank you Shannon County.. Wish I had lived in that part of Missouri..
I was born & raised in Howell county, MO. Lots of great memories & I’m still a country girl at heart. Watching this made me homesick for the 70’s & 80’s Ozarks, before the meth epidemic hit☹️
Now that it's 38 years later wish they would make a follow up video to see how things have changed.. I would rather have the old ways back than now days, I think it was a better life then.
@Smokey Bear That got a laugh out of me. I was thinking to myself "Yeah, a better life, but harder life, and we all pick the easier life", then I looked at your reply. Good thing I wasn't drinking anything at the time. Not that meth is funny, but you nailed it. How about he Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia?
@@danad9898 How though? I'd have thought they'd be relatively safe given the lack of the pollution tokens we call cash. What would bring a dealer into town, surely there's not the incentive to start up selling nor the funds to get a habit?
I really liked that old fellows story about his wood stove in the beginning. That is so wonderful to be frugal like that, but have it make perfect sense. I love that. 💖
My folks are from the hills of Arkansas. You grew your own grub in the warm months and canned enough to get you through the winter. We also grew our own smoke and made our own liquor and hard cider.
@@stovepipe1015 ... I live in Carter County Missouri, which is the county, one over to the East from Shannon County. It is less expensive here in Carter than it is in Shannon. Ripley County to the South of Carter and Shannon, is also cheaper in certain places. It's the Ozarks after all. The price of living here is one of the most affordable in the nation.
My Dads family was from Shamrock Mo, In Shannon cty, washed away in flood of ‘27 Been there many times, my roots. Dad became a Doctor during ww2, mom straight from Germany, aristocracy. Interesting mix Cjh
I so loved and appreciated this video...I was born in so. Mo. But left when my parents divorced, grew up in California always wanting to go back because it just felt right like home. I’m 71yrs now and have migrated to North east Texas where the countryside is very much like Missouri, too late to go back to live, but I want to back to the area and the cemeteries where my dad, grandparents, aunts , uncles,brothers and sisters are. Most of the men that I know in my family worked in the lead mines, dad loved to play music (mandolin) fish and hunt, he told me when I was little he wouldn’t move to Calif. cause the deer there were about the size of dogs!! Thank you for bringing a little bit of home into my life. Still a country girl at heart.
@@dukeman7595 you are correct in that statement..I have met plenty of very good and giving people in the Ozarks. And lots of people who want to use you here as well..but that's anywhere you go.
These people weren't poor. Money doesn't make you rich and the idea that it does is what's wrong with this world. To be poor is to have a home you barely live in because you have to work all the time to pay the mortgage and a car you live in and will be paying on long after the blue book value has dropped beyond resale value and have loads of things you thought you wanted setting in a closet collecting dust . People are miserable and they think money will make them happy.
in our humble house in east Georgia circa 1950's the only time the screen door was locked was to keep us kids from going inside and letting the spring slam the screen door. neighbors disciplined the neighborhood kids and everyone felt safe. man have those times changed. we proudly rode our bike through the streets and always could smell who was having pork chops for dinner!!! we weren't rich but we sure weren't poor.
I lived in the Ozarks for 3 years, in Wright County. I just recently moved. It's still like this, almost like time forgot the place. The people are very straight forward, no-nonsense. They have their own way of doing things, and its unlike anywhere else in the states. The land is beautiful. You could get lost and like it out there.
I respect these folks so much! My Mama & Daddy lived Ike this in MS. Later they moved to the city when we were born. We are working our way back to the old ways here on our Homestead.
Good comment. I would love to return to rural Southern Illinois. Living here; in Central Illinois, has ruined me in many ways. Physically, emotionally and mentally. A return to my roots, after 53 years of city life, can be more than a dream. I need to make it happen before it is too late.😢
I stumbled upon this video and low and behold I see an old childhood friend at the 21 minute mark. We grew up together in Illinois. He moved to Eminence with his parents who were from there.
I miss my old country church, I miss the older women of God that would pray you through “no matter what”. I can remember thinking I could live in church and just sleep on the benches. I wanted to be that close to Jesus. Life today is nothing like it use to be! I miss my country home where I grew up, with a holiness mother, and a hard working father! We were poor, but we didn’t know it, because we always felt loved by our parents! Oh how I miss them!
Watched part one had to watch part 2. I'm 39 grew up in northern lower Michigan gosh this reminds me of growing up here in the 80s till early 90s. I live in Traverse city area with 2 big bays off lake Michigan anywhere around here ur not far from Lake Michigan, sand dunes and there's either a river,lake or stream within 2mile radius anywhere ur at now tourism, winery's, micro brewery's, food culture,biking, running it's just insane the economic growth especially past 5yrs million dollar plus homes being built like crazy on the water or anywhere with a view and there's lots of land with a view. Obviously with the great Lakes, all the inland lakes and rivers from glaciers carving them out thousands of years ago there's lots of hills and valleys. Was walking by the bay today reminding myself how blessed I am to live here ppl pay thousands of dollars for few days vacation to see and experience what I do everyday,I'm truly blessed.
My family is from there- I was born in Saginaw. My mom's family is generations deep in that area....my dad's family goes back generations in the Hemlock area...I'm incredibly homesick for it. Michigan is a beautiful state.
There is something about living on your own terms that rises something good in us. By "your own terms" I mean pretty completely where like the man said, "If i want to sit down and rest, i can whenever I want to." Working with your hands. Working on the land can be dirty and hard, but it brings back a sense of reality and self-worth. A confidence and independence you never really have surrounded by concrete, glass and steel which may produce wealth but they don't support life.
Jack Sprat if I didn't have so many health issues, I'd fully be living this way! But I grow my own garden and herbs, do my canning, process raw wool and spin it into yarn and knit and sew the stuff I need for my husband and our extended family. It's funny because my brother-in-law comes from money, and they are no where near close to poor, but the most treasured things to them are the things I make with my hands and spend time on. That feeling of joy providing for my kin is one of the best in the world!
I can remember the fire raging in the wood stove that you would swear you could see the wood burning because the sides were this red you dare not touch. Going outside priming the water pump and pumping that handle until the clear cool water come pouring out. Prince Albert cans nailed to the floor so the holes in the floors would not bring the coldness in. Cornbread in glasses of milk before going to bed so we would not wake up hungry. And the hogs rutting under the boards around the out house and all us kids worrying the hogs just might get in. Those were the days but even tho it was ruff at times we children were happy.
So happy I clicked on this 😊 bringing back memories of my youth in the 70s. It was very much just like this. . member hearing my pa and grandpa and uncles having much the same conversations
this is where my daddy was born in the late 1940's and then, in 1971, I was born here too..I live in Idaho now. I've been in Idaho pite nigh on 30 years now, but I still got a little Ozark in my heart. I miss you Daddy.
@Sissy Ray Self - I also live in Idaho - only it's been life long for me. I'll never leave Idaho. Even after traveling many of the state's, I'll still take my Idaho over any other place.
I think the Rector couple are awesome! Been together through thick and thin, all the ups and downs of their marriage and are still working harder at their age than most young people nowadays...
People back then didn't have mobile phones with cameras so they act so natural and honest in front of the camera. I love watching documentarys about people you would ant normally get to hear from. These are real salt of the earth people 👍
the old wood stove, the whittling on something with a pocketknife, the mule dragging a log , the biscuits in the mornings, the cover alls..so many things remind me of my childhood times.
Felicity Ray Self, I grew up in Tennessee much the same way as you did in the Ozarks. I am still here and you could not pay me to live in a city. City life, to me, is sad indeed. I think you and I had a great beginning in life. We have the wisdom to survive and live a wholesome and good life. Where I live, we grow our own food and make what we need. Here, we live by our own rules and the best thing about that is, we can!
How true. My first jobs in the 70ies (Ozarks) were bailing hay; working various farms; newspaper routes; chicken farms; cutting firewood and cedar longs ... I loved it. I am now 60 and my insurance company recommends me to purchase another policy so if I fire someone they can not sue me. That's if I can find anyone decent enough to hire in the first place. These days I try to work alone.
Mike Freeman nobody wants to work anymore, people have been spoiled by the easy life, modern convinces have made things too easy. in this country. If a major economic depression ever hits again people will not be able to survive because many don’t know the basics of how to do things themselves.
Just finished our cabin in ozarks just south of Missouri line. Looking forward to- kinder more gentle America. Sure, we will have electricity, etc, but we will also have peace and quiet, and good neighbors. We r from north Louisiana, and sort of had to be accepted up there. We passed.....
I'm in North Louisiana... My family Roots started out as Cajun... And I've been many many places in the United States and just lost my forty acre farm in Virginia... If there's any men on here that want this country style life I'm very akin to it.. and I'm looking for a husband.!
I love Claud Freeman's comment that there is a "good labour market" when asked why he brought a factory to the area. I'm sure he meant that there is a good CHEAP labour market.
Hard to say for sure. You never know another man's heart but it probably was a factor. Look up the counties average wage and you will see poverty as most jobs are in tourism and those factories. Mostly minimum wage and hard work. Then fly over and see the massive land holdings and fancy places outside of those towns with millions of dollars just for the fences and you know there is big money there. They skew the averages to a degree. Average and median incomes are not near the same. Plus there is a lot of illegal money from drugs in the last twenty years in that county that does not show in any of the posted numbers. Fast money, dangerous money. Just saying.
I used to go to the ozarks as a kid! Loved those times and miss them! My dad always took us fishing and loved the outdoors as do I! Some of the best memories I have!!!!!!
Joy and woe are woven fine, a clothing for the soul divine 💚 thank you for making this documentary. All I want is a simple life, to love my homestead and adore my wife 😍
Where my family is from, spent alot of time on the lake as a kid.. 82-93. Miss my grandma and grandpa. 🙏😢 Alot of farmers around there are loaded financially, but you would never have a clue. Hard work good values...
the hills are my home my people are still there....im in dallas TEXAS now with my husband..I miss it so much ...my husband loved my people and my home ..I told my girls who are texans I want to be buried in the hills by the river next to my great grand parents...thank you for this video...
The people of the Ozarks are hard-working people. They mind their own business, live a simple life, and don't like people meddling in their business. Yes, they will speak their peace. They love God, family and friends. The rivers are great places to float. They may be poor but not in spirit. I hope meth has not wrecked havoc on them almost 40 years after this video was made? The whipporwills are priceless.
Meth has been the devils drug for many people in my county. But things are makin a comeback. The people still talk the same, eat the same, and worship the same. i always thought i talked proper compared to my friends, but whenever I talk to my ma's family from Illinois I realize how differant we sound. Ha ha There is a lotta money and business in Springfield, but once u get outta the city many folks still use wood stoves to heat their homes. New Stone houses are more a luxury, but when ya take the back roads u still find plenty of ole farmhouses and barns made of stone and white stucco. Whipperwill trees r all old and grown, but cedars tend to be the most common young trees. Useless Dang cedars ahh! they burn to fast to be good firewood and are to cheap to cut lumber out of, and they ALWAYS grow in the fencelines where u gotta cut em out. Collectin black walnuts is popular, I got buddies who'll get truckloads of em but aint No one around here gonna give ya a decent price for em cus theyre everywhere. Just a little look into today's Ozarks for ya outsiders. Im gettin all nostalgic cus Im going to college away from home the next 2 years.
My grand parents had a old rock house . That concrete floor was cold as hell in the winter but cool in the summer . They didn't get plumbing until I was in Jr high . Then only because I was there so much and wanted a shower so they built one and when I was away at school in Kansas would use it for storage until I came back on vacations and breaks and they would have it all cleaned out for me . Lived my grandpa and grandma but was always closer to my grandpa . I had his orneriness and wildness in me and my grandma called me a heathen lol helping the old man make and run shine and break miles and horses and farming with those miles and horses .in Kansas we had a farm but used machinery yo do the fields and stuff in Missouri we used horse drawn machinery and coonhunted our butts off I did it in Kansas to but I would give anything to be back to that old farm my grandpa had . He paid for it by working and bare knuckle fighting on the railroad . Love that guy .
Well those that kept their land and cattle increased their herds and timbered their woods for more pasture. Many run cow calf pairs, and do quite well considering the price of beef. I wouldn't call them poor in the least.
Meth and oxycontin has ruined the Ozarks. The country looks the same but them hills are dangerous now. They have more meth labs in the Ozarks. Than all states combined. The Mark Twain forest is vast rolling hills of dense forests and streams. Beautiful.
people voting against their own intrest believing Trumps lies... Cole is dead. Teach these workers how to do something else! They could make windmills and solar panels
He's technically making sorghum syrup which is made from crushed sorghum stalks. Molasses is made from sugar cane and sugar beets, and is the byproduct of one or more cycles of boiling sugar juice and removing the sugar crystals; What remains is molasses. Sorghum syrup is not boiled as extensively, and no sugar is removed from the syrup, which is the end product, unless someone's doing something like what the old man described, such as boiling it down to a harder sugar candy.
@@MichiganCrimeTimemaple syrup is made from boiling or cooking down maple "sap." It takes approximately sixty gallons of maple sap to make one gallon of maple syrup.
@@dalehood1846 I know that. I’ve just never learned about molasses. As I said, I read it in a book as a kid and never thought about it again. Hell, my own trees are tapped, it’s kinda what they do here in Michigan…
They really do eat squirrels here. I'm a transplant from crowded north Texas. So I moved to NW Arkansas. One hour away from Missouri and one hour from Oklahoma and 6 hours from Texas. I live in the most Mountainous area in Arkansas. Breath taking beauty. Lots of beautiful people here too. About 10 yrs behind where I came from. But still lots of hard working and honest people who care about others.
So much easier to live the way Jesus Christ taught when you live in a countryside that is peaceful and harmonious with nature but between human beings also.. that's why the crimes are so high in cities.. because cities are just the opposite.
@@mariahcarey9470 ... My guess would be, since he's an hour or so from both Missouri and Oklahoma, that he's somewhere within 25 miles of the Huntsville Arkansas area. This is only a guess as to the distance he described from both states.
I live in Alabama born and raised. My family were tater farmers and lived like this my great grandparents had 13 children living so we had a large family. I love these days going to their house eating all those people all that amazing food and all that love. Nothing like it. We are so rich but have no money. I now have a small chicken farm duck farm 4 children 9 grandchildren my husband works at home in his mechanic shop we garden can im so rich we rarely leave home. Build a life you dont want to run from do what makes you happy. Live for God and his ways. Help anyone you can. Love one another. Thats the secret to life. Love Gods love ❤thank you for doing these videos the world needs to know what real life is what really matters
Love this! It’s really cool that films like these survived and we can see how people lived back in the 70s and get a portrait of country life that might not have otherwise been seen
I went through these parts about the same time this film was made. I always said I wanted to go back but you can’t rewind time like you can this video. Now, at 60, I’m still looking at making it out there. Even though it won’t be the same...
Right now, i can smell Grandmas homemade bread, baked from a Wood Burning Cook Stove! I believe it won't be long before i go back and rejoin the past? Nothing ever really changes!
No doubt. My parents along with an aunt, uncle and my cousin Mike were down there possibly the year this was filmed. Another family they played cards with met us down there. We hit Silver Dollar City and an old waterslide. Might have hit Shepard of the Hills too. We lived about 300 miles away. Ironically I bought some acreage near Eminence maybe 13 years ago.
I was 16 years old in 1978. This documentary brought back so many memories. Just the "little" things like Pepsi in a paper cup and a bottle. Old men working. Men gathering to deer hunt and fish. Yes, it was this way, back then in time. It almost seems like a forgotten country as compared to now. Today it's all drugs, crime, shootings of people, a military-style police force. Even Americans working in an expanding factory. No more. I'm not sure which is better, 1978 or 2019. Now, I'm the older man at 58 years old. I can't do half the stuff these old men could. But, none of them were ever hurt really bad in a war or conflict. That's all we have now is war, not family values.
This is FANTASTIC ! I smiled and shed a tear or two... I know, LIFE just keeps going on with or without us... But, I sure LOOOVE what's being left behind ! THANK YOU !!! ❤
It's neat how this area is basically the same culture and beginnings as where I live here in the Ottawa Valley, Ontario. Thank you for this wonderful series!
My dad was born in 1900 in the Mo. Ozarks, I grew up in St. Louis, but spent my summers on my Uncle farm in the Ozarks.. It was paradise, a lg. creek, a natural lg. spring you could fish in, and right on the river. I left Mo. in 1970 and this brought back so many good memories. A good video.
Same issue that existed then still does now....i was born n raised in st.louis but spent most weekends and summers in either the ozarks or rural columbia missouri....and its deeply rooted in my soul....just being there makes you feel like a complete soul again...yet i cant.cant afford it. Its a heaven only available to the rich&wealthy now and i deeply hate how things are in this country now.
@Arthur B. Jammin’ yes, gun toting. See unlike wimpy little modern liberals like you, these people lived in rural areas and understood the necessity of firearms for protection and hunting.
It's to bad that our society has strayed away from the small community kinship. Back in those days people were looking out for their neighbors and if you needed anything you didn't have to ask. I miss those days.
@Apay Lol. My hometown was featured in a documentary. We were shown in a less than flattering light. We would be very happy for our documentary to go away. 😂😂😂
Reminds me of my grandparents and my aunts and uncles! My father was the oldest of his siblings, was born in 1927. He grew up this way. A lot has been forgotten about those days. I think back to times when I really should’ve been listening but wasn’t. I miss him! ✌️
Interesting/informative/entertaining.Excellent photography pictures enabling viewer's to better understand what/whom the orator was describing. Special thanks to resident guest speakers. Sharing personal information pertaining to their everyday lifestyles.
I lived in Winona in the 1980s and 90s and worked for Danny Staples and his wife Barb at Harvey's Canoe Rental in Eminence Missouri. I wish Danny could of been right about the Cadillacs.
As a steward of these hills. It is interesting to see the hopes and dreams of the past. Not really much has changed. Even some of the people I recognize even the family names. There still isn't much commerce outside of logging and The Current River. Some folks mentioned drugs internet. But I dare you to find anyplace in America that hasn't battled meth. Also I double dare you to find cell service in Shannon County. Further check out The Dillard's song Old Home Place. That will leave you with perspective. Great video! I hope this fella got an A
My daddy , Robert Ray Self wrote a book about the area he grew up in. Shannon County Missouri. The title of the book is based on the name of the river in the area. The book is called A Wicked Current. I think it's still available on Amazon.
Great people, great country. In fact Two Rivers was once owned by members of my family. Back then it was known as Two Rivers Ranch. It was a hunting and fishing resort and later a canoe concession was added. Then the government came along and made it part of the National Scenic Riverways
Y’all act like this is a bygone era. I grew up in the Ozarks on a legacy farm. Thousands of acreage. Small towns and the hills are the same as ever. Simply adopted a tractor instead of a mule, bine instead of a sickle. Wood burning stoves are still there, old farm houses are still lived in. Hunting and fishing is the best I’ve ever seen. It’s all there except a few upgrades.
![American Hollow (1999) [Full Movie]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/CDAFy3ASNOo/mqdefault.jpg)
Remember riding the back roads with no traffic and heading to the swimming hole, taking long walks down endless roads and long walks in the woods. Yes I miss the country life of the mountain and going to church in a one room old school house.
Got married in a one room church in 1970. We had to prop up the wire that held the sheet separating Sunday schools. And to answer the question you may have.....nope, different wife now.
Love Care. Kindness. Peace. Freedom and the fear and love of GOD.
The Ozarks are one of the most beautiful places on the earth.
Along with Southern Appalachian regions-!!!😉.
Shannon county is technically the poorest county in the state, but you wouldn't know it driving through. Beautiful farms and happy people. Money does not equal wealth.
Yeah, some people in these cities may make $50,000+ a year yet own NOTHING.
I enjoyed this look at the past. Watched in 2024. Thank you!
When I watch these videos, I grew up in part just like it. I was raised in San Antonio, Texas but spent every summer from birth to about 17 on my grandmother's 88 acre farm in rural southern Arkansas. She didn't have a bathroom until 1963 or a phone until 1968. She had an outhouse, a two holer. She walk a mile to use the neighbor's telephone. She raise a wonderful garden every year, bought only coffee, sugar and lard and toiletries. Meat was a big deal, it was mainly peas, corn, rolls with butter, and ice tea. Granny cooked like a pro, cakes, pies and cookies and she dipped Garett snuff up until she died in 1994 at 93. She wore a bonnet while working in the garden or milking her cow. What you see in this video is what I saw all my growing up years. I'm 67 today in 2021 and still work occasionally for the hell of it. Life is good when it's lived in 2nd gear.
That sounds fun! Always a good time at grandmas house!
Times were so much better than. I keep re-watching this because it makes me wish the world was like this today. I know all those older gentleman and women Who have passed on by now I probably turning in their graves at what the world has come to even in their small towns.
@Jeff Baker depending on who you ask...
Yes
Really? It must be really nostalgic like
That is funny I was just thinking the same thing that you commented I wished America could be like that instead of what is turning into America that I love
I’m watching this July 2020. What a world we have become. We were led astray, Utterly sad. No one has gratitude, but are blind and filled with indifference and dark hearts. Depraved even through a pandemic. I’m glad our grandparents and parents at least for some of us never had to live and see this day.
@ 2:11 Mr. Freeman Hughes at the age of 83 got over that fence quicker than most 30 somethings today could! Staying active is the best way to grow old gracefully.
Love our millennial pioneers of today !!!!!
No kidding!! Damn good for someone half his age.
Healthy unprocessed diet too no doubt
Lisa Marie VA lol I'm 48 and thought ..crap he gets over that fence better than I can ugh
Lisa Marie VA Same here - Im 65 and just walking is painful!
It is now November 2018 and I have just finished watching this. I love that I was born in the Arkansas ozarks and was able to return to it to live out most of my life. This brought back a lot of old memories, fond memories, of an era that is long gone. Most of the people in this video are now gone. I guess I am just a sap, but the old ways and the old timers are dear to my heart. I miss them both.
I really enjoy watching this. Most of my life I lived in the Detroit suburbs. I still live in Michigan but after my parents passed away I bought a new house out in the country in a small town. I love the wild life and the clean fresh air. People take things a little slower out here.
I do have a question? Why are the molasses a light color instead of dark as you buy in a store?
I agree!
Hi Larry, you lived in a beautiful part of America that is for sure. I am Australian and I love the accent you people have in the ozarks. ;-)
My family lives in Dover Arkansas
The young people gathering together on Saturday nights makes me remember a time before internet, video games, and cell phones.
The late '70s was the last hurrah for the old ways.
The eighties was the end in rural Vermont
@Patrick MartinI would take that ride back to the 70s if you have room...lol
I remember those days and its so different now. Fun and connections between people are over.
I desire for the 70's, especially for my grandkids!!
No not really I was born in 77 and a teen in the 90s. That was really the last era of the old days. Yeah we had tv, but we didn't have mobile phones or the internet till the late 90s. I am thankful for that as I'd never would have graduated high school if I had the internet and social media back then as I'm too distracted . My kids have such a different upbringing as we have so much tech now
I wonder how many people, like myself, are envious of how these people live. I know that this was made years ago, and I wonder how these folks are and where they are today. I'd love to visit there for a while some day, not as a tourist, but just as a visitor. Blessings to all in Shannon Co. Mo.
I agree 👍👍👍♥️♥️♥️
I live in the back woods of NB, other than electricity and now Safelite internet , we heat with wood , harvest that ourselves , bake our own bread , make our own wine. Town is 35 miles away and is just a twice a month trip the balance we remain on our 55 acres in the woods. I don't know where you live but while the good times with good folks and music is real and maybe alluring, the fact is it's somewhat hard no restaurants movies etc and that's if you could afford it and definitely no cruises beaches or vacations. It may sound enticing and for us that live it it is. For the majority of city folk , no cell phone , isolation etc they would just curl up like a baby , cry and then did. This type of lifestyle is only for some
They dont accept outsiders. Ive been there.
I’ve lived in Ozarks part in Arkansas it’s terrible it’s all apartments and no one knows how to drive all most no forest left because there’s all apartments Most people don’t know how to dress properly I don’t know about the Missouri part But the Arkansas part is bad
Don’t go anywhere like favorite Count me in Washington county got a place like tonytown down
Been fighting the decision to move up there for 30 years. This documentary, even though it's 40 or 50 years old, has convinced me to pack up my Jeep and head 2 North Arkansas/South Missouri. I'm there!
So how is it going.
Hell yes chuck
Chuck did you go???
Best of luck! Blessings chuck~
Al
That 83 year old farmer man is healthier than some 50 year olds I know. He stays active & busy, & probably never has to go to a doctor for much.
Reminds me of my great grandma 84 still works still gets around better than her daughter who is 60
I'm 37 and he's more spry than I am...🥺
He climbs over that fence and walks like a young man
YOU BET
@@williammorgan2366 nnn.
Ur
Thank you to post this, just so many good memories. In 1978 I was teenager living in a small town southern Indiana, looking back now these were the best times....I wish I can relive again. Now the 2021 world makes no sense, all is crazy...some politicians in office then or shortly after are still holding office now, the drug problem has magnified 1000x, back then police was servants to people but now todays mentality is police for profit from forfiture and seizure of private property, crime now has become??? And covid world wide pendamic causing complete economic shutdowns....please, I want to return to simpler times.
I agree Gary. I was 16 in 1978. I miss the good old days.
Same here,, let's go back,I'll drive
Wait for me!!! I was eleven and can fish the creek pretty good! Couldn't swim worth a shit tho! 🤣🤣
Things were alot cheaper back then! I had farm toys for entertainment. Wore out alot jeans playing on my knees!
I was 14 in 1978 and like you Gary it was the best years of my life! We lived on my grandpa’s farm! My daddy worked my momma stayed home and took care of me and my sister and we raised our own food hogs for pork steers for our beef and chickens running everywhere and my grandpa, daddy and uncle John all hunted and we ate what they killed and didn’t think nothing about and people helped each other I remember the family all got together when we killed hogs they came help us and daddy and uncle John went and help them and we all shared the meat! If you needed help everybody would help you damn I miss do miss those days!! Me and my cousins ran wild on the farm hunting fishing and just being free!! Damn Gary I want to go back too if you find a way let us all know!!
The Ozark hill folk , are a close kin to the people in southern Appalachia , we here in ky ,Tenn, north Ga. Live the same way . I love my Appalachian roots , but if yiu take a close look at America we were all at one time had this way of life. Time , invention , and money has caused many to lose there roots . No matter where you come from , coast to coast . The people that came before you had a much harder life and the history of those lives has much wisdom & knowledge to be appreciated . Thanks for this upload.
Our generations have lost their true north.. now.. even though I believe in some advancement and even college... I believe that you go to stay close to the old ways and the old roots are you going to lose your way and won't know what to do about it....
From 1972 - 1976 my family lived just over the line in Oregon County, south of Not, Missouri, In Shannon County, and our post office was in Birch Tree, Shannon County. We hippies hauled hay for the local farmers, raised a little vegetable patch, made quilts, and milked goats. I won a Halloween costume contest for the kids in Birch Tree, and i remember Teresita and Monteir, although we mostly shopped in Mountain View. When the family broke up, i moved to Willow Springs, in Howell County, and eventually returned to my home state of California. The sad news out of the Ozarks these days is all about drug abuse, alcoholism, no jobs, and a lost way of life.
Those were the good days . These people weren't poor they had all they needed ....a simple life.
Thank you, Mizzou, for making these two videos about Shannon County. My Grandparents and parents bought a weekend farm in neighboring Reynolds County in 1954, after spending weekends in that county since 1947. My family and I moved to the farm from St. Louis, Missouri, full-time in 1978 and lived there until my wife passed away in 2005. My job took me to Shannon, Carter, Dent, Oregon, Iron, and Madison counties(among others). I've been watching RUclips videos for 13 years since I retired and these two videos are the best I've ever seen.
I was Appalachian Mountain/Williamson West Virginia borned but was raised as a Missouri Show Me Gal... Thank you Shannon County.. Wish I had lived in that part of Missouri..
You are a sweet heart
I do not think mizzou did this. this was done by southwest Missouri state university. now known as Missouri state
I was born & raised in Howell county, MO. Lots of great memories & I’m still a country girl at heart. Watching this made me homesick for the 70’s & 80’s Ozarks, before the meth epidemic hit☹️
Huge Respect to all these folks. 🙏❤️🌺 NZ here.
Now that it's 38 years later wish they would make a follow up video to see how things have changed.. I would rather have the old ways back than now days, I think it was a better life then.
@Smokey Bear That got a laugh out of me. I was thinking to myself "Yeah, a better life, but harder life, and we all pick the easier life", then I looked at your reply. Good thing I wasn't drinking anything at the time. Not that meth is funny, but you nailed it. How about he Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia?
internet
The biggest change is probably the destruction meth has wrought, particularly on these regions.
@@rotisseriebear5394 The White family truly are wild!! They're entertaining for sure🙂
@@danad9898 How though? I'd have thought they'd be relatively safe given the lack of the pollution tokens we call cash. What would bring a dealer into town, surely there's not the incentive to start up selling nor the funds to get a habit?
I really liked that old fellows story about his wood stove in the beginning. That is so wonderful to be frugal like that, but have it make perfect sense. I love that. 💖
He's not frugal, he's a ludite and the purchase was not frugal at all. It was calculated and wise.
That was one heck of a stove!
My folks are from the hills of Arkansas. You grew your own grub in the warm months and canned enough to get you through the winter. We also grew our own smoke and made our own liquor and hard cider.
It’s the love in your heart and the passion in your soul that makes your future... We live in the Ozark’s and Love everyday. God Bless You !
I'm on a retirement check, can you live inexpensive there? Are there houses for rent or apartments? Thank you.
@@stovepipe1015 ... I live in Carter County Missouri, which is the county, one over to the East from Shannon County. It is less expensive here in Carter than it is in Shannon. Ripley County to the South of Carter and Shannon, is also cheaper in certain places. It's the Ozarks after all. The price of living here is one of the most affordable in the nation.
As a kid, we used to go to the Emenice area every summer. I still love that area and its people.
They have riches that some people with lots of money never know.
RoseThistleArtwork
No they don't
Nice hallmark card
reverse thrust you shut up
indeed
My Dads family was from Shamrock Mo, In Shannon cty, washed away in flood of ‘27
Been there many times, my roots.
Dad became a Doctor during ww2, mom straight from Germany, aristocracy. Interesting mix
Cjh
I so loved and appreciated this video...I was born in so. Mo. But left when my parents divorced, grew up in California always wanting to go back because it just felt right like home. I’m 71yrs now and have migrated to North east Texas where the countryside is very much like Missouri, too late to go back to live, but I want to back to the area and the cemeteries where my dad, grandparents, aunts , uncles,brothers and sisters are.
Most of the men that I know in my family worked in the lead mines, dad loved to play music (mandolin) fish and hunt, he told me when I was little he wouldn’t move to Calif. cause the deer there were about the size of dogs!!
Thank you for bringing a little bit of home into my life. Still a country girl at heart.
The Ozarks is a beautiful place. Not the people so much but the land!!
@@robbiejenkins3270 I have to agree and Disagree some are and some aren't.
@@dukeman7595 you are correct in that statement..I have met plenty of very good and giving people in the Ozarks. And lots of people who want to use you here as well..but that's anywhere you go.
@@robbiejenkins3270 That's a fair way to put it.
I hope that you will always be a country girl in heart. But can you cook a county meal? Lol. I miss the old days. I am pete. Nice to meet you.
I love living in the country its a lot simpler life old an new ways of doing things
These people weren't poor. Money doesn't make you rich and the idea that it does is what's wrong with this world. To be poor is to have a home you barely live in because you have to work all the time to pay the mortgage and a car you live in and will be paying on long after the blue book value has dropped beyond resale value and have loads of things you thought you wanted setting in a closet collecting dust . People are miserable and they think money will make them happy.
Tracy Puydak preach ♥️
Amen
It is a mindset, and people forget that it can taken away in a blink.
By gosh girl you make me alot of sense !
"Isolated by the hills, the early settlers lived off the land, needing little from the outside world"
Sounds like a rich life to me!
Holy moly! Am I the only one enamored by the ladies that are singing at church? What a voice!
in our humble house in east Georgia circa 1950's the only time the screen door was locked was to keep us kids from going inside and letting the spring slam the screen door. neighbors disciplined the neighborhood kids and everyone felt safe. man have those times changed. we proudly rode our bike through the streets and always could smell who was having pork chops for dinner!!! we weren't rich but we sure weren't poor.
Amen to that 🙏🏻 from a bricklayers child of the 60s👍♥️♥️♥️
Love the sound that door makes!
I lived in the Ozarks for 3 years, in Wright County. I just recently moved. It's still like this, almost like time forgot the place. The people are very straight forward, no-nonsense. They have their own way of doing things, and its unlike anywhere else in the states. The land is beautiful. You could get lost and like it out there.
I lived in Mansfield for two years in the early 80's and hated it.
I respect these folks so much! My Mama & Daddy lived Ike this in MS. Later they moved to the city when we were born.
We are working our way back to the old ways here on our Homestead.
Good comment. I would love to return to rural Southern Illinois. Living here; in Central Illinois, has ruined me in many ways. Physically, emotionally and mentally. A return to my roots, after 53 years of city life, can be more than a dream. I need to make it happen before it is too late.😢
I was born in '79 and I can somewhat remember the mid 80's. The 80's were a great decade. I wish I could go back now and live the 80's again.
I stumbled upon this video and low and behold I see an old childhood friend at the 21 minute mark. We grew up together in Illinois. He moved to Eminence with his parents who were from there.
You should give him a call.
We would hang out at the square in Ozark and in Springfield when I was younger.
I wish You Tube had a button with a heart, for when you more than just *like* a video.
❤
❤️❤️
I miss my old country church, I miss the older women of God that would pray you through “no matter what”. I can remember thinking I could live in church and just sleep on the benches. I wanted to be that close to Jesus. Life today is nothing like it use to be! I miss my country home where I grew up, with a holiness mother, and a hard working father! We were poor, but we didn’t know it, because we always felt loved by our parents! Oh how I miss them!
Watched part one had to watch part 2. I'm 39 grew up in northern lower Michigan gosh this reminds me of growing up here in the 80s till early 90s. I live in Traverse city area with 2 big bays off lake Michigan anywhere around here ur not far from Lake Michigan, sand dunes and there's either a river,lake or stream within 2mile radius anywhere ur at now tourism, winery's, micro brewery's, food culture,biking, running it's just insane the economic growth especially past 5yrs million dollar plus homes being built like crazy on the water or anywhere with a view and there's lots of land with a view. Obviously with the great Lakes, all the inland lakes and rivers from glaciers carving them out thousands of years ago there's lots of hills and valleys. Was walking by the bay today reminding myself how blessed I am to live here ppl pay thousands of dollars for few days vacation to see and experience what I do everyday,I'm truly blessed.
My family is from there- I was born in Saginaw. My mom's family is generations deep in that area....my dad's family goes back generations in the Hemlock area...I'm incredibly homesick for it. Michigan is a beautiful state.
No matter where you're from (Livonia MI here), just seeing the way ya lived out side of the city back in them days is awesome...
There is something about living on your own terms that rises something good in us. By "your own terms" I mean pretty completely where like the man said, "If i want to sit down and rest, i can whenever I want to." Working with your hands. Working on the land can be dirty and hard, but it brings back a sense of reality and self-worth. A confidence and independence you never really have surrounded by concrete, glass and steel which may produce wealth but they don't support life.
Jack Sprat if I didn't have so many health issues, I'd fully be living this way! But I grow my own garden and herbs, do my canning, process raw wool and spin it into yarn and knit and sew the stuff I need for my husband and our extended family. It's funny because my brother-in-law comes from money, and they are no where near close to poor, but the most treasured things to them are the things I make with my hands and spend time on. That feeling of joy providing for my kin is one of the best in the world!
Some times your own terms don't turn out so well Jack. I wish they did for every body, but man was born into sin and suffering.
The loss of man’s real feel for the land leads to a fake, unhappy life.
@@MichiganCrimeTime Amen sister.
Kelly Hudson Some people can’t afford land no matter how hard or long they work.
I can remember the fire raging in the wood stove that you would swear you could see the wood burning because the sides were this red you dare not touch. Going outside priming the water pump and pumping that handle until the clear cool water come pouring out. Prince Albert cans nailed to the floor so the holes in the floors would not bring the coldness in. Cornbread in glasses of milk before going to bed so we would not wake up hungry. And the hogs rutting under the boards around the out house and all us kids worrying the hogs just might get in. Those were the days but even tho it was ruff at times we children were happy.
I remember.. I recall.
So happy I clicked on this 😊 bringing back memories of my youth in the 70s. It was very much just like this. . member hearing my pa and grandpa and uncles having much the same conversations
this is where my daddy was born in the late 1940's and then, in 1971, I was born here too..I live in Idaho now. I've been in Idaho pite nigh on 30 years now, but I still got a little Ozark in my heart. I miss you Daddy.
He misses you too honey....do Daddy Proud.
@Sissy Ray Self - I also live in Idaho - only it's been life long for me. I'll never leave Idaho. Even after traveling many of the state's, I'll still take my Idaho over any other place.
I think the Rector couple are awesome! Been together through thick and thin, all the ups and downs of their marriage and are still working harder at their age than most young people nowadays...
People back then didn't have mobile phones with cameras so they act so natural and honest in front of the camera. I love watching documentarys about people you would ant normally get to hear from. These are real salt of the earth people 👍
MUCH AGREED!
the old wood stove, the whittling on something with a pocketknife, the mule dragging a log , the biscuits in the mornings, the cover alls..so many things remind me of my childhood times.
Felicity Ray Self sad life!
Felicity Ray Self so sad!
Felicity Ray Self so sad!
whats so sad about it? they seem like very proud & contented folks
Felicity Ray Self, I grew up in Tennessee much the same way as you did in the Ozarks. I am still here and you could not pay me to live in a city. City life, to me, is sad indeed. I think you and I had a great beginning in life. We have the wisdom to survive and live a wholesome and good life. Where I live, we grow our own food and make what we need. Here, we live by our own rules and the best thing about that is, we can!
"People don't work like they use to" so true old timer, so so true
The Ozarks are such a beautiful place.
How true. My first jobs in the 70ies (Ozarks) were bailing hay; working various farms; newspaper routes; chicken farms; cutting firewood and cedar longs ... I loved it. I am now 60 and my insurance company recommends me to purchase another policy so if I fire someone they can not sue me. That's if I can find anyone decent enough to hire in the first place. These days I try to work alone.
Mike Freeman nobody wants to work anymore, people have been spoiled by the easy life, modern convinces have made things too easy. in this country. If a major economic depression ever hits again people will not be able to survive because many don’t know the basics of how to do things themselves.
yeah young people now are lazy. wanna play on cell phone at work. no ambition or customer service skills.
I dont think he was really talking about literal work. I think he was talking about the way people function in life
This video is the most beautiful thing I've seen for a long while, god bless.
we lived here for 15 years , built a log cabin near Rolla mo where my kids live and go back from where we live in texas often , love the ozarks
My fiance used to live in St. James and Davisville on Huzzah creek.
Hats off too the man that brought that factory to the region as long as he pays a living wage.💰💰💰💰for everyone.
Just finished our cabin in ozarks just south of Missouri line. Looking forward to- kinder more gentle America. Sure, we will have electricity, etc, but we will also have peace and quiet, and good neighbors. We r from north Louisiana, and sort of had to be accepted up there. We passed.....
Neighbor!! Just North of the Arkansas Line, in fact the Line is 200 yards from the Cabin. Cedar Creek Area.
well God Bless ya Sadie, from an old soul in Ohia
So are you living in it yet.and good lick
I'm in North Louisiana...
My family Roots started out as Cajun... And I've been many many places in the United States and just lost my forty acre farm in Virginia...
If there's any men on here that want this country style life I'm very akin to it.. and I'm looking for a husband.!
@@janaprocella8268 lol does it matter the age .
I love Claud Freeman's comment that there is a "good labour market" when asked why he brought a factory to the area. I'm sure he meant that there is a good CHEAP labour market.
Hard to say for sure. You never know another man's heart but it probably was a factor. Look up the counties average wage and you will see poverty as most jobs are in tourism and those factories. Mostly minimum wage and hard work. Then fly over and see the massive land holdings and fancy places outside of those towns with millions of dollars just for the fences and you know there is big money there. They skew the averages to a degree. Average and median incomes are not near the same. Plus there is a lot of illegal money from drugs in the last twenty years in that county that does not show in any of the posted numbers. Fast money, dangerous money. Just saying.
I used to go to the ozarks as a kid! Loved those times and miss them! My dad always took us fishing and loved the outdoors as do I! Some of the best memories I have!!!!!!
Joy and woe are woven fine, a clothing for the soul divine 💚 thank you for making this documentary. All I want is a simple life, to love my homestead and adore my wife 😍
Lot of my kin come from the Ozarks. Migrated eventually into Texas. Hard working people that instilled a lot of good values in me.
Where my family is from, spent alot of time on the lake as a kid.. 82-93. Miss my grandma and grandpa. 🙏😢
Alot of farmers around there are loaded financially, but you would never have a clue. Hard work good values...
The rich guy here that brought his Factory to the area was a real godsend. God bless the rich like him..
They are very rare men.!!
I'm proud to be born in the Ozarks. Living in Texas now. I miss it everyday.
the hills are my home my people are still there....im in dallas TEXAS now with my husband..I miss it so much ...my husband loved my people and my home ..I told my girls who are texans I want to be buried in the hills by the river next to my great grand parents...thank you for this video...
The people of the Ozarks are hard-working people. They mind their own business, live a simple life, and don't like people meddling in their business. Yes, they will speak their peace. They love God, family and friends. The rivers are great places to float. They may be poor but not in spirit. I hope meth has not wrecked havoc on them almost 40 years after this video was made? The whipporwills are priceless.
Meth has been the devils drug for many people in my county. But things are makin a comeback. The people still talk the same, eat the same, and worship the same. i always thought i talked proper compared to my friends, but whenever I talk to my ma's family from Illinois I realize how differant we sound. Ha ha There is a lotta money and business in Springfield, but once u get outta the city many folks still use wood stoves to heat their homes. New Stone houses are more a luxury, but when ya take the back roads u still find plenty of ole farmhouses and barns made of stone and white stucco. Whipperwill trees r all old and grown, but cedars tend to be the most common young trees. Useless Dang cedars ahh! they burn to fast to be good firewood and are to cheap to cut lumber out of, and they ALWAYS grow in the fencelines where u gotta cut em out. Collectin black walnuts is popular, I got buddies who'll get truckloads of em but aint No one around here gonna give ya a decent price for em cus theyre everywhere. Just a little look into today's Ozarks for ya outsiders. Im gettin all nostalgic cus Im going to college away from home the next 2 years.
My grand parents had a old rock house . That concrete floor was cold as hell in the winter but cool in the summer . They didn't get plumbing until I was in Jr high . Then only because I was there so much and wanted a shower so they built one and when I was away at school in Kansas would use it for storage until I came back on vacations and breaks and they would have it all cleaned out for me . Lived my grandpa and grandma but was always closer to my grandpa . I had his orneriness and wildness in me and my grandma called me a heathen lol helping the old man make and run shine and break miles and horses and farming with those miles and horses .in Kansas we had a farm but used machinery yo do the fields and stuff in Missouri we used horse drawn machinery and coonhunted our butts off I did it in Kansas to but I would give anything to be back to that old farm my grandpa had . He paid for it by working and bare knuckle fighting on the railroad . Love that guy .
Well those that kept their land and cattle increased their herds and timbered their woods for more pasture. Many run cow calf pairs, and do quite well considering the price of beef. I wouldn't call them poor in the least.
Meth and oxycontin has ruined the Ozarks. The country looks the same but them hills are dangerous now. They have more meth labs in the Ozarks. Than all states combined. The Mark Twain forest is vast rolling hills of dense forests and streams. Beautiful.
people voting against their own intrest believing Trumps lies... Cole is dead. Teach these workers how to do something else! They could make windmills and solar panels
The molasses candy story was one of my favorites! Loved hearing his story but saddened that it doesn’t happen anymore
I've never seen molasses being made before! That is really cool!
He's technically making sorghum syrup which is made from crushed sorghum stalks. Molasses is made from sugar cane and sugar beets, and is the byproduct of one or more cycles of boiling sugar juice and removing the sugar crystals; What remains is molasses. Sorghum syrup is not boiled as extensively, and no sugar is removed from the syrup, which is the end product, unless someone's doing something like what the old man described, such as boiling it down to a harder sugar candy.
@@OutyMan oh wow! That’s neat! I don’t know why I thought molasses was made from maple…possibly a book I read as a child🤷🏻♀️
@@MichiganCrimeTimemaple syrup is made from boiling or cooking down maple "sap." It takes approximately sixty gallons of maple sap to make one gallon of maple syrup.
@@dalehood1846 I know that. I’ve just never learned about molasses. As I said, I read it in a book as a kid and never thought about it again. Hell, my own trees are tapped, it’s kinda what they do here in Michigan…
City folk are in rest homes at 75 and these people are still working like dogs at 90
@Jo Lisa Dukarić what the hell had Capitalism got to do with this ?
@Jo Lisa Dukarić Yes capitalism is the reason many people get to retire and not have to work their entire life.
@Fon Hollohan I think you misread my comment...
Those people are 50. They just look 90.
@@garse70 They'll outlive you.
They really do eat squirrels here. I'm a transplant from crowded north Texas. So I moved to NW Arkansas. One hour away from Missouri and one hour from Oklahoma and 6 hours from Texas. I live in the most Mountainous area in Arkansas. Breath taking beauty. Lots of beautiful people here too. About 10 yrs behind where I came from. But still lots of hard working and honest people who care about others.
So much easier to live the way Jesus Christ taught when you live in a countryside that is peaceful and harmonious with nature but between human beings also.. that's why the crimes are so high in cities.. because cities are just the opposite.
Which part of Arkansas is that Robbie?
It's expensive now though...
@@mariahcarey9470 ... My guess would be, since he's an hour or so from both Missouri and Oklahoma, that he's somewhere within 25 miles of the Huntsville Arkansas area. This is only a guess as to the distance he described from both states.
I live in Alabama born and raised. My family were tater farmers and lived like this my great grandparents had 13 children living so we had a large family. I love these days going to their house eating all those people all that amazing food and all that love. Nothing like it. We are so rich but have no money. I now have a small chicken farm duck farm 4 children 9 grandchildren my husband works at home in his mechanic shop we garden can im so rich we rarely leave home. Build a life you dont want to run from do what makes you happy. Live for God and his ways. Help anyone you can. Love one another. Thats the secret to life. Love Gods love ❤thank you for doing these videos the world needs to know what real life is what really matters
Love this! It’s really cool that films like these survived and we can see how people lived back in the 70s and get a portrait of country life that might not have otherwise been seen
That's how they lived there since the 1800s The internet and drugs has brought the devil to them towns.
I went through these parts about the same time this film was made. I always said I wanted to go back but you can’t rewind time like you can this video. Now, at 60, I’m still looking at making it out there. Even though it won’t be the same...
My dad used to send me down to his friends farm in the Ozarks every summer about this time. This is how it was before it got destroyed.
Greed got it to.
Shannon county is hauntingly beautiful.
Right now, i can smell Grandmas homemade bread, baked from a Wood Burning Cook Stove!
I believe it won't be long before i go back and rejoin the past?
Nothing ever really changes!
Live in NW Arkansas and the Ozarks are the biggest part of my life. Wouldn’t wanna live anywhere else. For mountains are home ❤️
I did really enjoy this video, sounds alot of my Appalachian kin folk....
👍🏼
What a great video. Like stepping back in time.
Hi from New Zealand,
Thank you for sharing life in Shannon Country with the world. God Bless.
Those old clips of Branson bring back some memories.
No doubt. My parents along with an aunt, uncle and my cousin Mike were down there possibly the year this was filmed. Another family they played cards with met us down there. We hit Silver Dollar City and an old waterslide. Might have hit Shepard of the Hills too. We lived about 300 miles away. Ironically I bought some acreage near Eminence maybe 13 years ago.
I can feel this and in my bones I can live this way ..in my heart my love longs for it..God Bless us....
A wonderful composition, and thanks to Missouri State for preserving the history of the Ozarks.
I was 16 years old in 1978. This documentary brought back so many memories. Just the "little" things like Pepsi in a paper cup and a bottle. Old men working. Men gathering to deer hunt and fish. Yes, it was this way, back then in time. It almost seems like a forgotten country as compared to now. Today it's all drugs, crime, shootings of people, a military-style police force. Even Americans working in an expanding factory. No more. I'm not sure which is better, 1978 or 2019. Now, I'm the older man at 58 years old. I can't do half the stuff these old men could. But, none of them were ever hurt really bad in a war or conflict. That's all we have now is war, not family values.
I was also 16 in '78, I really miss the way things used to be
You seem to have forgotten about World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnamese War, which my brothers were drafted into in about 1968-1970.
Some of these men I'm sure was I WW2 or Vietnam
Change is the one thing we can be sure of, to be afraid of it or avoid it is ignorance
This is FANTASTIC ! I smiled and shed a tear or two... I know, LIFE just keeps going on with or without us... But, I sure LOOOVE what's being left behind ! THANK YOU !!! ❤
I live in Rolla mo and I love these hills
Love this history! We are trying keep this history alive in our videos too! Especially Appalachian!
A simple way of life slowly fading into history I just wish something's would never change.
It's neat how this area is basically the same culture and beginnings as where I live here in the Ottawa Valley, Ontario. Thank you for this wonderful series!
beautiful place, beautiful people
My dad was born in 1900 in the Mo. Ozarks, I grew up in St. Louis, but spent my summers on my Uncle farm in the Ozarks.. It was paradise, a lg. creek, a natural lg. spring you could fish in, and right on the river. I left Mo. in 1970 and this brought back so many good memories. A good video.
Same issue that existed then still does now....i was born n raised in st.louis but spent most weekends and summers in either the ozarks or rural columbia missouri....and its deeply rooted in my soul....just being there makes you feel like a complete soul again...yet i cant.cant afford it. Its a heaven only available to the rich&wealthy now and i deeply hate how things are in this country now.
I'm going to a wood cook stove in another month. Looking forward to it!
It would be a shame if we lost this culture, they were good hardworking, bible reading, gun toting family people
Yikes
Bible and gun, oh my who needs mo din dat
Meth, cable tv. It’s gone fella
@Arthur B. Jammin’ yes, gun toting. See unlike wimpy little modern liberals like you, these people lived in rural areas and understood the necessity of firearms for protection and hunting.
@doc hall I bet they never used a gun for a car jacking. Maybe you're in the wrong place. Limp wristed citiots need not apply
It's to bad that our society has strayed away from the small community kinship. Back in those days people were looking out for their neighbors and if you needed anything you didn't have to ask. I miss those days.
I live in SW Virginia in the mountains. People are still like this in some places.
@@lisamarieva3514 Born in Giles County (Pearisburg), lived in Glen Lyn for 8 yrs. I so miss it.
Industrialized society has ruined our country.
I lived in a small town in TX and had everyone bein friendly and helping each other out. I miss that.
We would rather hate each other and fight over man made political beliefs.
I grew up there, and I think this is a great vid..... very realistic....
How cool would it be to have a documentary about your town and be able to look back
@Apay Lol. My hometown was featured in a documentary. We were shown in a less than flattering light. We would be very happy for our documentary to go away. 😂😂😂
Reminds me of my grandparents and my aunts and uncles! My father was the oldest of his siblings, was born in 1927. He grew up this way. A lot has been forgotten about those days. I think back to times when I really should’ve been listening but wasn’t. I miss him! ✌️
How times have changed! Now we have more homesteaders moving here to live the simple lifestyle like back in the old days.
Thank you SMSU ! (My late father's alma mater.) I can't believe I happened upon this beautiful documentary. It was quite a trip down memory lane.
I was raised about 10 miles east of West Plains, MO, same neighborhood. That will always be HOME
Interesting/informative/entertaining.Excellent photography pictures enabling viewer's to better understand what/whom the orator was describing.
Special thanks to resident guest speakers. Sharing personal information pertaining to their everyday lifestyles.
I lived in Winona in the 1980s and 90s and worked for Danny Staples and his wife Barb at Harvey's Canoe Rental in Eminence Missouri. I wish Danny could of been right about the Cadillacs.
As a steward of these hills. It is interesting to see the hopes and dreams of the past. Not really much has changed. Even some of the people I recognize even the family names. There still isn't much commerce outside of logging and The Current River. Some folks mentioned drugs internet. But I dare you to find anyplace in America that hasn't battled meth.
Also I double dare you to find cell service in Shannon County.
Further check out The Dillard's song Old Home Place.
That will leave you with perspective.
Great video! I hope this fella got an A
When does the new history come out
My daddy , Robert Ray Self wrote a book about the area he grew up in. Shannon County Missouri. The title of the book is based on the name of the river in the area. The book is called A Wicked Current. I think it's still available on Amazon.
@@josephford959 when you get an interesting idea for a comment, check back in. See ya in a few decades then...
Great people, great country. In fact Two Rivers was once owned by members of my family. Back then it was known as Two Rivers Ranch. It was a hunting and fishing resort and later a canoe concession was added. Then the government came along and made it part of the National Scenic Riverways
Y’all act like this is a bygone era. I grew up in the Ozarks on a legacy farm. Thousands of acreage. Small towns and the hills are the same as ever. Simply adopted a tractor instead of a mule, bine instead of a sickle. Wood burning stoves are still there, old farm houses are still lived in. Hunting and fishing is the best I’ve ever seen. It’s all there except a few upgrades.
Yes sir we still here. Wilderness/Handy area
The era is a bygone, the setting maybe not.
@@mjfarmer14 Mike you would have any idea... You clearly weren't born in America.