Taney County

Side 1: Harold Bell Wright (1872-1944) camped here while gathering material for his 1907 novel, "The Shepherd of the Hills." Among scenes in Taney County and in adjacent Stone County, to the west, described in the novel are Dewey Bald Mountain, The Trail Nobody Knows How Old, Sammy's Lookout, Mutton Hollow, Uncle Ike's Post Office at the Forks, and Old Uncle Matt's Cabin. On Bear Creek, above Walnut Shade in Taney County, once stood Bonnibrook, the home of Rose O'Neill (1874-1944), artist and writer. There she created the Kewpie, a famous, fat, winged, topknotted baby-doll. Located at Point Lookout, to the south, is the outstanding School of the Ozarks. It was founded under Presbyterian auspices at Forsyth, 1907, and removed to present site, 1915. The school has a noted museum. When explorer Henry Rowe Schoolcraft visited Missouri's White River Ozarks in 1818, he saw Osage Indians and scattered settlers living as hunters in present Taney County, now a dairy and livestock farming, lumbering, and resort area. Side 2: Taney County, here in Missouri's fabled White River Country, was organized, 1837, and named for Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney. Around bend of Lake Taneycomo (Taney Co., Mo.) is Forsyth, the county seat. Settled in the 1820's and named for John Forsyth, Secretary of State, the town was removed to its present site, 1950-51. The impounding of waters by Bull Shoals Dam in Arkansas made the move necessary. Settled largely by Southerners, the area suffered from guerrilla raids during the Civil War. Two decades after the war a secret law and order group was organized known as the Bald Knobbers, for the bare hilltops used as lookout points. Nearby Branson, one of the many resort towns in the area, was settled in the 1880's and is named for its first postmaster. The year the White River Branch R. R. came through in 1906, Hollister was laid out and named for a railroad official. At Powersite is Ozark Dam, privately built, 1913, which forms lake Taneycomo from White River, main stream of the Ozark watershed. The site of Table Rock Dam is above Branson.