Sacred Heart seniors learn about Ozarks

To the Editor:

Recently, on a cool, crisp fall morning a group of seniors from Sacred Heart Catholic Church took a trip through the Arkansas Ozarks. The group visited the town of Mountain View and the Ozark Folk Center. The small Ozark town is claimed to be "The Folk Music Capital of the World."

Every night throughout the summer and early fall, the town square comes alive with musicians playing and singing folk, country and gospel music.

In the late '60's a native Arkansas English teacher from Timbo, Ark., a neighboring town, decided it was time to preserve the Ozark culture, the old-tyme crafts and mountain music. He and his friends went to Washington, D. C., and secured a multi-million dollar grant to build what is now the Ozark Folk Center. The credit goes to Jimmy Driftwood, a singer/songwriter, who wrote the "Battle of New Orleans," Johnny Horton, a country singer, popularized the song.

The center, located in the Ozark National Forest, on top of a mountain, contains a 60 unit lodge, a restaurant, and a craft demonstrating village. The village, consisting of numerous buildings, has local craftsman demonstrating the lost art of broom making, blacksmithing, candlemaking, quilting, cornstalk dolls and many more crafts from the past.

A 1,000 seat auditorium was built to preserve the old-time music, banjo, fiddle, mountain dulcimer, autoharp, and many more.

Music shows are held nightly and the house rule is, no music written after 1941, may be played.

The group had the pleasure of spending the evening meal at "The Iron Skillet" with a young blind man from New York City. Jerron Paxton, a talented musician, who plays six different instruments, and sings Southern blues and country, was the featured entertainer at the Folk Center Theater Saturday night.

Mountain View, a quiet Ozark town, is where "Grandpa Jones" of the TV show "Hee Haw" chose to live for eight years after his friend, "Stringbean" from Nashville's "Grand Ole Opry," was murdered in a home invasion.

He left Nashville for a safer place, opened the Grandpa Jones Family Dinner Theater, stayed until his health declined, and returned to Nashville, for better health care facilities. After two nights of quiet, restful sleep in the Folk Center Lodge, and attending church services, we took a side trip through the Sycamore Scenic Byway, deep into the forest to some of the Ozark's finest scenery, Blanchard Springs, Mirror Lake, surrounded by massive rock bluffs and Ozark Mountain streams.

After three days of Southern hospitality, friendly people, relaxation, good food, and entertainment and fellowship amongst the senior group.

We all came away with a better understanding of the Ozark culture, and in need of a rest.

Flavian Halter

Gloria Wilson

Sacred Heart

Wisdomers Club

Poplar Bluff, Mo.