Hello again. A couple of weeks ago, my friend and business partner Rick Swan asked if any of us had heard anything about Garber. Rick had no family who lived there, but like others I know who ride horses and venerate the history of Roark Valley, Garber is one of those places that spoke to his heart. Never a particularly big village, the old John Ross store building ("Old Matt" of the book "Shepherd of the Hills"), a few houses and barns--that was it. Near a railroad trestle above the fork of Roark Creek, it was secluded in a little glen that could be a little difficult to reach. I myself have never been there. Close, on the scenic railroad trip you can take from Branson, and just below the fork of Roark--but never have I seen it. And I guess the opportunity is now gone. Rick saw the buildings back in November. The land was sold since then, and the rumor is that the day after the papers were signed and the sale closed, the new owner, StoneBridge Village (an exclusive golf course with fancy houses that owns a great deal of property in the immediate area) went in and bulldozed every thing left. Others who would know claim that books, papers, you name it, were still in the buildings, and nothing was taken out before the destruction began. Those items are now in a big hole that had been dug for the purpose. There was no announcement, no sales, like Branson did with the venerable buildings on the Lakefront. Just outright destruction. I know why they did it--to discourage those who visited the past respectfully, in fear those same people would continue to trespass and some sort of lawsuit would happen. That isn't unreasonable, I suppose, but as we who care about such things are continuously pushed into the corner, we are running out of the tangible assets of our pasts...my grandmother was born in Garber. Most of the places she has lived in Taney county have been destroyed in the name of "progress". I'm beginning to feel like what I think matters doesn't really matter after all. For all the progress on cemeteries, for all the watchdog patrols my friends and family continue, for all the work we do to preserve the places and things of our ancestors...well. Those of you who don't have family ties to Garber, or whose research that has led you to this small, small, area in southern MO...it is only the middle of the process. As more people move here, wanting new houses and businesses and getting bored by looking at hills, the old places are disappearing at a rate faster than my kids are growing...and TJ is nearly my height now, with a men's size 10 foot. Where is the sense of preserving our history that seems to be everywhere else in the country but here? Vonda ListMom for MO-AR-WRV http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~moarwrv/