Mom’s people were from that part of the state.
My Grandfather’s side of the family was named Wilkerson. They lived in Camdenton and were one of the two families that developed Bridal Cave into a tourist attraction. As a kid my Grampa Wilkie carried wet cement into the cave in 5-gallon buckets to pour the walkways and stairs. Both of Mom’s folks got sick with cancer in the early 80’s and had to sell out their share of the business to the people that run the cave now in order to cover medical expenses. Needless to say, it was a very sad time for us. They also owned the Bottle Museum and some vacation cabins on what was then the north side of Camdenton along 54 hiway. My Great Grandmother’s house sat where the Taco Bell is located now. The Bottle Museum and cabins were on the opposite side of the hiway directly across from her house. She passed in ‘68 and the property was sold, but you may remember it from your time there.
Grandmother’s side were Newtons. Their farm was on the Niangua and was flooded out when Tunnel Dam was built. The power company bought it and they retired to Lebanon.
Dad’s people came from Virginia by way of Kentucky in the late 1820s and settled here in Boone County to make their living as farmers. We still own 88 acres that was part of the homestead place just south of Columbia.
The country in me runs deep.
I’m native Missourian both family lines. My hometown is Louisiana, right on the Mississippi River where I was born in that little hospital back in aught 1950. The Griffith clan all farmed between Louisiana and Clarksville. I’ve lived in half dozen other states, all west of Mississippi River, but I came back two MO. Dad’s family, the Casteels are from Mercer Co, right up on the Iowa line. Princeton was the town where my grandparents raised 10 kids. Grandfather Casteel was a banker, farmer, and department store owner with his brother. I will go there to be buried in the family plot.
Of the other states I’ve lived in Ca was beautiful in places but a horrid, congested place to live, eastern Oregon was not a bad place to cattle ranch for 3 years, Texas was ok but way too hot and uncomfortable with poor soil, eastern Kansas was good for ranching but not scenic, Iowa had amazing soil but too flat and cold, and northern Idaho was absolutely wonderful. Family concerns brought us back to MO, which was still home and full of relatives.