“Late in the fall of 1955, my parents, George and Carol Timson, bought a forty-acre farm on Big Creek near its confluence with the Current River just outside the village of Cedar Grove in the northwest corner of Shannon County, Missouri,” writes Timson. “At the time we arrived, the population of the village had dwindled to eight from what had once been a small but thriving community of several hundred inhabitants in the village and on the surrounding farms during the timber boom of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. At its peak in the early 1900s, Cedar Grove had a grist mill, multiple stores and shops, two hotels, and a school with over thirty students, but by the late 1950s, the village was gone.”
The author continues, “Today, the site of the extinct village of Cedar Grove is part of the ONSR operated by the National Park Service. Many of the buildings that once stood are gone, with no evidence they ever existed. There are a few partial foundations that remain hidden by sixty years of natural growth. Floating the Current River is the largest draw to the ONSR in terms of number of people annually visiting the park. High up on the river, Cedar Grove is a popular put-in location for one-day floats to Akers or multiple-day floats to destinations farther downstream at Round Spring, Two Rivers, or Van Buren. Thousands of floaters are deposited at the low water bridge each year and sent off downstream with no knowledge that Cedar Grove was once a thriving village. But it was…”
Published by Page Publishing, Ben Timson’s enthralling tale paints a vivid picture of everyday life in the once-vibrant village, deftly capturing the essence of Cedar Grove’s rise to prominence and its eventual decline as the timber industry exhausted the land. Through years of research and personal experiences, Timson delves into various aspects of village life, detailing the economic, social, and cultural fabric that sustained Cedar Grove through its heyday and chronicling the inevitable challenges that led to its eventual abandonment, offering readers a window into a bygone era of Ozark history.
Readers who wish to experience this engaging work can purchase “Summers at Cedar Grove: The Rise and Fall of an Ozark Village” at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes Store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.
For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.
About Page Publishing:
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