Pearl Spurlock, tourist guide and raconteur extraordinaire of the early Shepherd of the Hills days in Branson. “Sparky” was such a legend herself; we used this photograph as a full page illustration in See The Ozarks
Pearl Spurlock became as well known as the characters and locations of Harold Bell Wright’s best-selling 1906 novel, The Shepherd of the Hills. As ‘furners’ traveled to Branson to pay homage to the events and people of the novel, most were treated to the knowledgeable services of “Sparky” – early on by horseback, and later in her car. As they bumped over the rocky hills to Sammy Lane’s Lookout and Uncle Ike’s Post Office, Pearl “not only tells the story in a beautiful and impressive manner, but feels it, … and you feel it must be the first time (she has given it) … It has grown sweeter to her each time it is told.” (Harrison County Times, Bethany, Missouri, Nov. 1, 1934.)
Mary Elizabeth Mahnkey, poet of the hills, even penned a tribute to Pearl:
Velvet fingers, but grip of steel,
Eyes on the road, hands on the wheel,
A flashing smile and a kindly hail,
For passing friends on the shining trail;
And a fine, sure knowledge of hill and wood,
With legend, tradition, bad or good.
And Pearl Spurlock floats along
With her big car singing its steady song.
And yet, I wonder if sometime she
Dreams a dream of the used to be?
When a good horse answered her girlish skill
In a glorious gallop o’er vale and hill,
When the summer days passed gay and sweet,
On the little bay mare with dancing feet.
Today the same strong love abides
For her still streams, her mountain sides,
And that is why they all depend
On dear Pearl Spurlock—the tourist’s friend.
The article noted that Pearl was a Harrison County local, as her family was from there, well outside the territory of the Shepherd of the Hills.
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See The Ozarks: The Touristic Image is available on our website at www.dammingtheosage.com for $22.50 (10% off retail price of $24.95), postage paid.
