Here we go, folks. Let's create an intricate, virtual, textual tour of SDC (just to keep us busy). If this works, it could be interesting. In not, the thread will die.
Let's get started:
I exit the white parking tram on the right side, and the first thing I see is a large wooden building with a water wheel. Two costumed characters direct me toward the ticket booth. What else can be seen from this location?
To my left I see an entrance for Season Passholders/ already purchased tickets that allows people to enter the building to the left (Ozark Marketplace). Ahead of this along the exterior of the building I see a wagon/ kiosk selling various items. The building has several windows with scenes of craftsmen painted on panels between the windows. These all lead you to a stone wall/ archway to the left of a HUGE axe in log logo of Silver Dollar City (with throngs of people and photographers swarming around it!).
I go ahead & let one of the SDC citizens take my picture. Then i walk up to one of the ticket booths & purchase a ticket for the day from a nice-warm talking lady. Then one of my friends takes a picture of me in front of the BIG axe in log logo statue. We go back thru the ticket booths & see a sign that says - Silver Dollar City - with a hand pointing to the left. As i round the corner, i see what looks like a big water wheel....
Well we have had passes for the last many years, but we still enter thru the ticket window booths because both of us usually need to use the facilities "hence" what we see after the big axe logo sign. Then since my wife "darn-near-always" forgets her license back at Homestay-the next big thing we see is the interior of the small GR building, so they can give her a pass to enter the park w/o ID (Also another reason why I BEG the PTB to start offering an ID season pass).
After entry we see the usually big lines at the stroller rental station right before we enter (my fav place) Delilahs.
Look for Delilahs on your left. Of course, you can smell Delilahs before you see it. The outdoor tables already have a few visitors enjoying coffee and cinnamon rolls. As I walk in the door, I always look to the left to see if the big mixer is mixing a batch of cream filling for the chocolate eclairs. The lady in the white apron is using a pastry bag to fill the eclairs and frost the cupcakes. Straight ahead the older gentleman with the big white hat is rolling out dough in prep for the wonderful cinnamon rolls that melt in your mouth. The bakers are busy, busy, busy. Try to grab a table right in from of the open air kitchen so that you can watch "the show". To the right of the open bakery area is the display case filled with sticky buns, cinnamon rolls, eclairs, cupcakes, and bread pudding. On the wall above is the sign that displays the breads available for purchase that day.
Wait for the rest of the party that stopped at the Harvey water Clock to get their annual picture inside the stone wall, while the other person in your group visited guest relations because they forgot their Season Pass back at home. You are waiting while munching on a whoopie pie, I mean it isn't breakfast food, but hey, it is vacation right? While waiting , go and grab a Pathfinder to help you check the schedule of shows for the day, and to help manage your time in the City. When your group assembles, you decide to go on up the hill...
I can almost smell the cinnamon rolls. So as we continue on we the national landmark sign for marvel cave on the right. The first strains of bluegrass music hit my ears from the speakers that they have disguised as rocks. We see the front of ths hospitality house in front of us. The sign with today's cave tours is on the right. Stepping in, I see the mural across the top from one side of the room to the other. Just inside the door on the right is the desk for the cave tours. across the walkway is the first of the merchandise that you can get here.
I hurry through the modern knick-knacks and shirts as quickly as I can because I have "a great past ahead of me"! I feel the whoosh of the air curtain as I leave the building and walk under the lush, cool archway. The smell of hot asphalt seductively tickles my nose.
OK now that you all have so graciously lead me past the shopping nonsense (I mean-money grabbers ;D ) OK I admit, I enjoy the SDC merchandise too. -- Anyway, now we are in town square.
We see the taffy shop on the left (Always take a quick tour there). See the crew rolling out a large string of taffy (after it has been mixed) being rolled up tighter and on the way to the wrapper. (Must hang out for the free sample).
Then another left down hill right to the Wildnerness Church. After passing up the inviting wood pews on either side, we see the "always crystal clear" glass window where the views of the Ozark Mountains detains me "mentally" for the rest of the day.
Now I will let someone else lead me out of the Church.
Someone informs us that we missed the mural in the Hospitality House. We return for a look at the vintage artwork that encircles the interior of the building. While there we are greeted by the cave guides, awaiting their first tour. We think we might be interested in a lantern tour later in the day (when the temperature hits hotter levels). Now, we are ready to re-enter the park under the arbor. On our way back to the Wilderness area, we are greeted by a gazebo, a popcorn wagon or two, and some old fire equipment. Look closely! There are treasures scattered in this area.
We visit Phoebe Snapp's taffy shop on our way to a log cabin with a sign about apple butter...
Weeeee Hooooooo The only thing that could make this tour any better is ...---...!!!
A "PICTURE" tour of everything just mentioned and the rest of the day of the tour. :o
The taffy shop is a Victorian yellow house structure. Inside, a wrapping machine is fascinating sight. We are mesmerized for a moment. Picking up a sample piece of taffy, I pop it into my mouth and quickly lose a crown off of a molar. Putting the crown into my front pocket, I make a mental note to remember to remove it when we return to the condo after we leave SDC. Everyone is ahead of me, already exploring the applicious scents emitting from the apple butter shop. I stay outside and soon hear some stringed instruments from a nearby front porch...
Standing on the porch of the taffy shop I think about all the uses of this shop while walking towards the Apple butter shop. I remember sitting with Bob on a cold day working on one of his baskets while he warmed his hands, but that is gone now, and I move into the apple butter shop. "Howdy folks come on in" we walk in and sample the apple butter, apple salsa, and the pumpkin butter all with tortilla chips. With the sweet taste in Our mouths we walk around and make our way upstairs wishing we lived in the cabin. We hear the shingle saw starting upside we make our way outside...
I stop by to marvel at the mechanics of the shingle saw, and talk a bit about cedar, life, and all of the other details of life. I didn't catch his name, but the man running the saw is a veteran of Vietnam, and is a wonderfully nice man to shoot the breeze with.
From here we make our way around to Birdle's Cabin. Though it isn't the way it used to be , we still can experience some of what Birdle Mannon had in her homestead cabin.
(aside to Birdle)
We read that Birdle was born Birdle Hilda Rosalie Mannon on April 15, 1909. In 1916, at the age of seven, Birdle moved from North Platte, Nebraska, to the Ozark Mountains near Brownbranch, Taney County, Missouri, along with her mother, father, two brothers, and a sister.
Birdle was an educated woman who chose a simpler way of living. She attended school in Brownbranch and graduated from Ava High School. She spent four summers in the 1940s studying at Southwest Missouri State College (now Missouri State University).
Miss Mannon resided at the family's homestead her entire life. The Mannon cabin had no electricity or running water. Following her sister's death, a phone was installed in the 1970s for Birdle's safety. She owned a truck for a few years. Birdle did not stray far from home; Kansas City was the farthest she ever traveled besides her initial trip from Nebraska. She was a school teacher, Sunday school teacher, and a newspaper correspondent for local newspapers. She was a deeply religious woman and attended Caney General Baptist Church in Brownbranch. Her life became a point of interest in the 1990s when USA Today and the Springfield News-Leader wrote stories about her rugged lifestyle choice. An excerpt from a short biography of Birdle within the collection expressed what many people wondered of Birdle Mannon:
Birdle passed away October 26, 1999, at the age of 90. A few years following her passing, the Mannon cabin became the property of Silver Dollar City where we see it today. Though we are quarantined to just the entryway, we still can feel the history of this place.
Did anyone else hear the animals next door at the Homestead?
I see that the goats are out today. Swiss Miss and her brother half and half are entertaining the guests in the petting zoo. I step a little further towards the back and see the black and white piglets that I named ham and bacon squealing at each other as they try to get to the troughs. There are chickens to the other side of the barn. Lots and lots of chickens. Some of the strangest looking chickens I think I ever saw. Across the way I see an old schoolhouse. Let's go see what's inside.
As a teacher, it is only fitting that I make my way up to the schoolhouse. I stop along the way to look at the picture window on the Wilderness Church, and read the tale of the Dogwood that is along the pathway, and find myself at the old schoolhouse. memories flood of my grandparents tales of being in a schoolhouse. I have a seat as the schoolmaster instructs, and I write on my slate using chalk in my best penmanship "You've Got a Great Past Ahead Of You". I talk with the schoolmaster about being a teacher, and I take a few photos to use in my history lessons, and then I make my way up to see the pickers, and what's cooking in the homestead.
Ready for a ride yet? What does that sign say?
The sign says "American Plunge" but it's too early to get THAT wet so I take the path next to it to "Wildfire". The line isn't that long this early in the day so I go right through the queue and wait behind 3 other riders for my place in the front row. After an incredibly disorienting couple of minutes of loops and cobra rolls I decide I need something cold to drink so I head for the...
...frozen lemonade stand. The good stuff, the sdc stuff, the original. I fill up 2 of our refillable mugs, one for me, one for my wife. We both grab a red straw with a scoop on the end and start to enjoy its goodness. We find a seat on one of the benches that surround one of the trees at the bottom of hill street and people watch for a bit before we head to....
the firemans cemetary for a puff or 2 off my cigar.. ::) & to wait & see if the train will go by so i can wave to all on board. oh heck, there is FITH!! lets ride!! after a great nostalgic ride & the smells of that ride, we walk out the tunnel & decide to....