Branson, Missouri: Regional Identity and the Emergence of a Popular Culture Community

Any study of Branson, Missouri, must include a discussion of the Ozark Mountain region because so much of the region's geography, history, and culture have directly affected Branson itself. In fact, Branson's ascent to a popular culture entertainment center has been greatly enhanced by its location in the Ozark mountains. Logically, the first subject for analysis will be the Ozarks, understanding the forces that have shaped hem into a unique cultural area. Such analysis will create a regional context in which to explain Branson's phenomenal growth and development. The Ozark Mountain region is more dramatic than the rest of the central-Mississippi valley area. Limestone outcroppings form rugged topography that is covered with thick stands of Eastern red cedars, post oaks, and pines. The Ozarks, though lying like a large island west of the Appalachians, are part of the same geologic mountain system. More accurately described as a plateau, they consist of relatively at table lands with deep hollows cutting zig-zag patterns across the surface. Soils of the Ozarks ate relatively thin, leaving this fragile ecosystem vulnerable to erosion. Below the rugged terrain lies a vast system of underground rivers, giving rise to many natural springs. The vegetation of the Ozarks has experienced significant change in recent centuries. At the time when the first white explorers, such as Henry R. Schoolcraft, made their way into this area in the early 19th century, the landscape was coveted mostly by oaks (Ingenthron 189). Similar to the indigenous peoples, namely the Osage Indians, early Anglo-American pioneers relied extensively on the forests for most of their needs. This extensive reliance on local resources led many families towards self-sufficiency, and author E. Joan Miller contends tat this self-sufficiency had an isolating effect, ethnically and linguistically, on the people of the Ozarks (68). Families were wholly independent economic units, speckling the backwoods in clearings hacked out of the forests; Though pines and cedars are also numerous, oaks still represent the majority of timber. This is, in part, a result of the logging activities that were central to the region's economy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Transportation and travel within and through the Ozarks centered around the White River, the largest river in the region. Land travel proved much more difficult because of the many steep inclines and dense forests covering the countryside. In fact, the Ozark Plateau, in contrast to the flatter lands of the central Mississippi Valley, was often avoided by the various waves of westward migration throughout the 1800s, further is dating the region from the rest of the nation. This isolation had a "preserving effect" on the local culture (Rayburn 46) With minimal external influence, lifestyles of the people of the Ozarks experienced little change throughout the 19th century. Major routes to the Far West developed through Chicago and St. Louis to the north, and Memphis to the south. Compared to the rest of the country, this left the Ozarks less traveled, more sparsely populated, and relatively unknown. This isolation has had several effects on the region's development and people. First of all, with less trade and communication than other areas to both the north and south, no large cities formed, and the towns that did spring up tended to remain relatively small. Population densities of Taney county, in which Branson lies, remained low into the 20th century. As if on an island, the inhabitants of the Ozarks have developed a rather strong sense of identity. For them, the Ozarks constitute a well defined geographic location, and thus local traditions and customs have formed and flourished. Some of these cultural patterns are still noticeable today. Miller makes an effort to define the region using two methods: 1) the folk material collected by folklorist Vance Randolf, and 2) the ethnic origins and cultural boundaries that were determined using subjects of folk tales in conjunction with linguistic data (51-77). …