Transcending Time

‘Shepherd of the Hills’ still the story of the Ozarks

Courtesy Photo “The Shepherd of the Hills” outdoor drama, based on the 1907 novel by Harold Bell Wright, is back on stage in Mutton Hollow.
Courtesy Photo “The Shepherd of the Hills” outdoor drama, based on the 1907 novel by Harold Bell Wright, is back on stage in Mutton Hollow.

Sometimes fiction is stronger than fact. And when the two meet as they have in Branson, the result is a tale so iconic it's lasted 110 years.

Harold Bell Wright was an ailing minister and author who sought respite from tuberculosis in the Ozarks at the turn of the 20th century. That's a fact.

FAQ

Shepherd of the Hills

Outdoor Theatre

WHEN — 8:30 p.m. Saturday; 8:30 p.m. Aug. 30; 7:30 p.m. Sept. 2-3; continuing through Oct. 19

WHERE — Shepherd of the Hills, 5586 W. Hwy. 76 in Branson, Mo.

COST — $18-$37 for the play; $25-$50 for everything on park

INFO — 417-334-4191 or oldmatt.com

FYI

Book Signing

Harold Bell Wright’s grandson, Michael Wright, will sign new and vintage copies of “The Shepherd of the Hills” today and Saturday at the World’s Largest Toy Museum Complex in Branson. Hours are 9 a.m.-8 p.m., and books will be available in the gift shop.

INFO — 417-332-1499

"In the spring of 1896, he traveled as far into the Ozark hills as the rails took him," recounts the Branson.com website. "The end of the line was Marionville, Mo., where he set off on horseback into the rugged hills. Turning back from a flood-swollen White River, he sheltered at the homestead of John and Anna Ross on a ridge near Mutton Hollow.

"He intended only to spend the night, but Wright stayed for the summer. He returned to the Ross homestead each summer for eight years as he slowly regained his health."

His impressions of the people and life of the Ozarks became the fiction, a book titled "The Shepherd of the Hills," and in 1960, the Ross-inspired characters Old Matt and Aunt Molly became the stars of "The Shepherd of the Hills" outdoor drama between Branson and Silver Dollar City.

"My granddad was in the play for about 25 years," says Jeff Johnson, a partner in Shepherd of the Hills Development LLC, the new owners of the Branson property. "I was born in 1974, and Granddad had been in the play for 10 years by then. I've never known a world where that didn't exist. That story carved out a place in my heart."

By the time Johnson, a longtime banker in Springfield, Mo., heard in January that the Shepherd of the Hills park was for sale, it was under contract, he says. "So I kept my ear to the ground, and as soon as I heard it was for sale again, I reached out to one of my good friends and best customers, Steve Faria, who has some resorts [including WaterMill Cove] on Table Rock Lake. We went and looked at it, and for the value we saw there, the potential, it was a pretty quick decision."

Now, says Johnson, the goal is for the renamed "Shepherd of the Hills Homestead Adventure Park" to appeal to both those who know and love the book and a younger audience, a sentiment that's shared by most Branson entertainment venues. ATV trails are now open on park property, and plans include a petting zoo, more ziplines, an aerial adventure ropes course and "one of the tallest rock climbing surfaces in the country."

Meanwhile, the play returned to Mutton Hollow at the end of July, Johnson says, with more than 90 actors and actresses plus horses, sheep, mules and donkeys performing on a stage the size of a football field. Homestead tours are back on at the park, the chuckwagon dinner show is reopening this weekend, and the Trail of Lights will be back at Christmas "bigger and better."

"As the play begins, you hear the director say, '"The Shepherd of the Hills" is our story," Johnson says, and he believes that's as true now as ever. "That's what I want people to remember. They're missing out on their heritage if they don't know this story. I want all of the people in the community to own it and feel like it's their story."

NAN What's Up on 08/25/2017

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