| Contributed by Jan
McCalester-Stackhouse My family comes from
the Ozarks of Southern Missouri and Northern Arkansas. The Ozarks were settled in the
early 1800's by Scots. To this day, their influence is everywhere. All the
high schools in my town (at the time that figured to a whomping 5) had Highland pipe bands
instead of the regular marching bands. Our drill teams dressed as Highland dancers
and performed Highland Dances at the football games. Burns day is still celebrated
there as well. The traditional music of the Ozarks definitely has a Celtic tone with
the fiddles and dulcimers. It leaves no doubt in the listeners mind where we (The
Ozarkers) came from. I know that a lot of the written records of the area were lost
during the War between the States. Most all the information that I know was handed
down word of mouth. BTW, a little bit of trivia for you.... During the War between
the States, our boys in the confederacy would give a yell as they started their
attack. It became known as the "rebel yell". Actually, it wasn't
ours to start with. It was passed down to us from the Highlanders. <G> |
