The Legend & History of the Dogwood Tree

Blogger: Amber Schamel

Since Easter is coming up, I thought I’d share a beautiful legend that always comes to my mind this time of year. The legend behind the dogwood trees. Some of ya’ll may have heard it, but perhaps you don’t know some of the other history behind the tree.

Down South, the Dogwood Trees are a symbol of Spring. There are festivals every year that celebrate Spring and the blooming of the dogwood tree. In fact, three states have honored the tree with state plant status. The dogwood is the state tree of Missouri, the state flower of North Carolina, and Virginia loved it so much that it is actually their state flower AND state tree.

In the mid 1500’s, the trees were known in Europe as the dagwood, because the small stems were used for dags, daggers, arrows or skewers. Later, around 1615, the name was changed to dogwood. No one knows for sure why the name changed from dagwood to dogwood. Perhaps it was a pronunciation thing. Or perhaps it was because the tree sometimes made the sound of a dog barking when the branches knocked together in the wind. Or perhaps it was due to the medicinal properties of the bark, that were often used to treat mange in dogs.

The native Americans used the dogwoods for many purposes, including medicines and dyes. The tree was seen as masculine, and many of the ceremonies consisted of the males eating their berries. The sap, however, is toxic and was used as a poison amongst the tribes. When the dogwoods bloomed in spring, the Native tribes knew it was time to begin planting.

Thomas Jefferson is one of the main reasons that the dogwood tree became popular as an ornamental tree. He loved them and promoted them for landscaping, including many of them in his estate plan at Monticello.

Notice the unique petal tips

Growing up in Colorado, I had never heard of dogwoods until I started volunteering in the rural Ozarks near where my dad was raised. He’s the one that original introduced me to these trees and the beautiful legend behind them. My dad stopped the car beside the road, snapped off a branch and held it out to us as he explained the legend. They are a rather small tree, rough and crooked looking. Around Easter every year, it bursts forth with beautiful, fragrant blooms. These blooms have four petals that look somewhat like a cross. The tips of the petals are unique, looking almost as if they've been imprinted by nails, and having red coloring that almost looks like blood stains.
 
No one knows for certain where the legend originated, or who is responsible for it, but it goes something like this:

The Dogwood Tree by Anonymous

When Christ was on earth, the dogwood grew

The blooms look almost like a cross,
with a crown of thorns at the center.

To a towering size with a lovely hue.
Its branches were strong and interwoven
And for Christ's cross its timbers were chosen

Being distressed at the use of the wood
Christ made a promise which still holds good:
"Not ever again shall the dogwood grow
To be large enough for a tree, and so

Slender and twisted it shall always be
With cross-shaped blossoms for all to see.
The petals shall have bloodstains marked brown
And in the blossom's center a thorny crown.

All who see it will think of Me,
Nailed to a cross from a dogwood tree.
Protected and cherished this tree shall be
A reflection to all of My agony."

While history tells us that these trees didn’t grow naturally in Palestine, (and therefore would not have been around during the time of Christ) and the legend most likely originated in the early 20th century, the story of the Dogwood Tree is just that…a story. However, it is a fantastic tool for telling others, especially young children, about the story of Jesus’s sacrifice & our redemption. The tree does bear resemblance to the story, which makes it an easy way to share the Gospel. I’ve witnessed my dad sharing it this way many times. So now, when you see the sign of Spring in the Dogwood Tree, remember its Creator, and His love for you.

Have you heard the legend of the Dogwood Tree? What other legends have you heard about Christ’s crucifixion? 

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Amber Schamel writes riveting stories that bring HIStory to life. She has a passion for travel, history, books and her Savior. This combination results in what her readers call "historical fiction at its finest".  Her title, Dawn of Liberty, was awarded the 2017 CSPA Book of the Year award in Historical Fiction. She lives in Colorado and spends half her time volunteering in the Ozarks. Amber is a proud member of the American Christian Fiction Writers Association. Visit her online at www.AmberSchamel.com/ and download a FREE story by subscribing to her Newsletter!

Early Ozark Innovation at the Greer Mill

Blogger: Amber Schamel

Greer Mill - Reconstructed

Even though I'm a Colorado native, I spend at least half my time near the Missouri Ozarks. I thought it would be fun to feature some of the local history for you here at HHHistory.

The Greer Spring and Mill is an important location in Oregon County history. The spring itself is one of the largest in the area, flowing down to double the size of the Eleven Point River.

In 1859, Samuel Greer, one of the early settlers of Oregon County, and his partner, George Mainprize,built a mill near the spring.
When the Civil War broke out, Greer was the second man to sign up for the state militia. After the battle of Wilson's Creek, he was promoted to the rank of Captain upon joining the Confederate army. Although he was engaged in many prominent battles and sustained slight wounds to the head and shoulder, he was not disabled.

While Greer was away serving as a Captain in the Confederate army, a band of Bushwackers set the gristmill ablaze, and it was destroyed. The band also drove off most of the livestock from the local farms, which left the area in a dire situation economically.

Captain Samuel Greer

After Captain Greer surrendered on May 5, 1865 he returned to Oregon County, immediately rebuilt the mill and resumed operation. The mill became a bustling place. 

Greer was an innovative leader. He trained a team of oxen to haul logs and grain up the steep hill without a driver.

However, the mill's equipment was limited. Local settlers had to settle for cornbread and corn meal due to the difficulty of obtaining wheat flour. Ground wheat products had to be hauled long distances from railroad towns or river ports in wagons and that, of course, made it expensive.

Around 1883, Captain Greer decided to remedy this. He began improvements to the mill. He built a three-story structure with a roller mill for wheat, turbine waterwheel, and formed a new and larger dam. The improvements were completed around 1899, but folks were baffled by Greer's engineering. The captain had defied logic by installing the mill machinery uphill from the water/power source. But his ingenuity had found a way to make it work. A complex system of cables and pulleys.

Greer Spring - Main Outlet
By Hillbilly2008 [Public domain],
via Wikimedia Commons

The new mill quickly became popular, and business boomed. Farmers from miles around brought their grains to Greer Mill. This new hub of activity presented new business opportunities as well. A log house was built to house the customers who required lodging, and a new corral in which they could keep their horses or mules. Of course, this also required a new well lined with stone.

 After 1899, the mill was sold multiple times. By 1920, railroads had penetrated the Ozarks area, as did the products and services of the big industrial mills. Greer Mill was unable to keep up with the competition and ceased operation in 1920.

Captain Greer went on to become a representative of Oregon County at the State legislature.

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Author of over half a dozen books, Amber Schamel writes riveting stories that bring HIStory to life. She has a passion for travel, history, books and her Savior. This combination results in what her readers call "historical fiction at its finest".  She lives in Colorado and spends half her time volunteering in the Ozarks. Visit her online at www.AmberSchamel.com/

Taking the Waters at the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas

            “The action of our waters in the cure of disease is well marked, although opinions may be divided as to how they cure, all are agreed that they cure. Some say that there is no virtue in medicinal waters and the cures are due to other causes. Then, we say, show us what the causes are.” –Dr. William Johnston, Eureka Springs, AK

            By 1879, news of the healing properties of the waters around Eureka Springs, Arkansas was spreading rapidly. Tales of travelers cured of everything from polio to blindness abounded, all due to dipping in or drinking of the spring waters.

            Joseph Perry, friend to Kit Carson and other Wild West legends and son of a hotel family, came to Eureka Springs for the water and stayed to build an empire. Water from Basin Spring was available in every room of his hotel. This was a marked improvement over accommodations elsewhere, as visitors were often seen carrying buckets of water to their hotels for use in bathing and drinking.

            By 1881, the Invalids Association, a regular meeting of the invalids who had made the pilgrimage to the city, was held at the Elk Street ME Church. The purpose of this society was to inform attendees about all matters of interest in regard to cures and the locations where they might be found.

            Owing to the popularity of the area, a variety of boardinghouses, bathhouses, and hotels were built in the area. However, none could compare to the glorious Crescent Hotel. Built by the Eureka Springs Improvement Company and the Frisco Railroad, the Crescent was opened to the public on May 10, 1886. The castle on the hill, as some called the grand five-story resort, was built from local limestone fitted together by a group of specially qualified masons brought in from Ireland.

            And oh what a castle! Pilgrims could come to the waters and stay for the bowling, lawn tennis or horseback rides, to name a few of the luxurious amenities. Soon the Crescent Hotel became the place for society to come and take the waters. Not only had Eureka Springs become a destination for restored health, but also for an improved social calendar during the spring and summer months for the “carriage set”.

            But how did waters from a spring find their way up to a hotel on a hill? Modern engineering, 1880s style, of course. Water from Congress and Crescent Springs was pumped up the hill and into the hotel where it was made available to guests not only in their rooms but in the rotunda on a tap that looked very much like a modern soda fountain. Guests could come down to the lobby and pour a glass of Basin, Dairy, or Sweet Spring water at any time he or she wished.

            As medical knowledge improved, doctors began to question the curative effects of the waters, often calling on a placebo effect in explaining the cures. Other said the reason was the area itself with its beautiful hillside location and many outdoor activities that lured formerly placid visitors outside and into more invigorating activities. Whatever the cause, the waters still beckoned and the pilgrims still came.

            Today the Crescent Hotel still stands on the hill overlooking Eureka Springs, mostly unchanged in over 125 years. Though the taps for water by the glass are no longer evident in the rotunda, the pipes can still be seen on the ceiling of the first floor restrooms.
             Though through the years the hotel has been home to junior college, a hospital, and a conservatory for young women, the Crescent has been restored to its former glory and awaits the history lover who would like to know what it might have been like to come and take the waters. Or perhaps to come and merely fill up a dance card and enjoy a lovely summer.

             The Crescent Hotel is also the setting for my newest novel, Flora's Wish (Harvest House, February 2013). Flora Brimm, a not so prim and proper Natchez belle with four fiancés whose untimely deaths kept them from arriving at the altar has one wish: find a husband and secure the family home for a sibling who would otherwise be tossed out. Ever resourceful, she’s sure she knows exactly how to make that happen. So she makes her plans and arrives at the Crescent Hotel only to find out she is the subject of a Pinkerton investigation and just may be engaged to a jewel thief. Meanwhile, Pinkerton agent and inventor Lucas McMinn is trying to decide whether the lovely lady is part of the solution or the problem.

              To win a copy of Flora's Wish, leave a comment! 

And our big giveaway is coming the end of the month!

Grand Prize- Kindle 

2nd Place Prize- $25 Amazon gift card 

For each day you comment on CFHS you receive one entry in the kindle and $25 Amazon gift card giveaway. Comment on every post in the month of March and earn 31 entries! 

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Bestselling author Kathleen Y’Barbo is a multiple Carol Award and RITA nominee of forty-five novels with almost two million copies of her books in print in the US and abroad. A Romantic Times Top Pick recipient of her novels, Kathleen is a proud military wife and an expatriate Texan cheering on her beloved Texas Aggies from north of the Red River. To find out more about Kathleen or connect with her through social media, check out her website at www.kathleenybarbo.com.

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