Douglas County Museum

Mrs. Turner, who was born at Hartville shares that she moved to Douglas County at age 6.  It was actually Ozark County then in 1855.  One would travel for miles, she said, and not see a cabin.  The first deer I ever saw were nine in one gang near Oswego.

I got my first schooling near Smallett in a little round log or poll schoolhouse.  Polls or small logs split open, with legs put in each end, were used for benches, no two legs the same length.

People would meet at some one of the neighbors two or three times through the summer and worship.  They would yoke up the oxen, hitch them to an old tar pole wagon, spread a quilt on the bottom to keep the children from dropping through, load in all the wagon would hold and drive out to church.  Those were blissful days. (From the Douglas County Herald, November 1912)  You can find stories like this and others at the Museum when you come by.  We are open on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

The good old days were formerly known as ‘these hard times’.

Have you heard of these cures for baby teething?  Take the backbones of a rattlesnake and dry them and string them like beads for baby to wear around his neck to chew on.  Also a buckeye around the baby’s neck supposedly relieved the pain.  As well as a mole’s foot, a cocoon, dead wood lice in a sack, termites in a bag, a cricket’s nest on a string or a dime with the same year as the birth of the child with a hole punched in it and a string through it.  If the necklace didn’t work, rub milkweed on the gums or let baby chew on a bacon rind.

Stay tuned for more.