1. Barn Again Bed-And-Breakfast
City: Ozark, MO
Category: Accommodations
Telephone: (417) 581-2276
Address: 904 West Church St.
Description: Located in Ozark, close to antiques stores yet within easy driving distance of both Branson and Springfield attractions, this five-unit bed-and-breakfast inn features 1910 “farmhouse suites,” two in the barn and three in the original milking parlor, all near the swimming pool. Units are large (big as a barn!) and have private entrances and full baths (some units have a Jacuzzi), and all are within easy walking distance of the network of walking paths by the Finley River. Built in 1910 and restored by the Amish community, the inn, now listed on the Ozark Historical Register, has one unit named the Amish Room furnished with Amish antiques, furniture, and quilts. The inn has a full gourmet farm breakfast served in the main house, the original barn of this turn-of-the-20th-century homestead, operated by hosts Mark and Susan Bryant.
2. Columbia College, Ozark Branch
City: Ozark, MO
Category: Education
Telephone: (417) 581-0367, (800) 928-8843
Address: 741 North 20th St.
Description: Located in the Diamond Center at the US 65 and MO 14 junction in Ozark, this extended-studies branch of Columbia College offers an array of night classes for those who work full-time and still want to work toward that college degree. The branch opened in 1997 to serve those who need classes offered during evenings and in short sessions. The main campus, located in Columbia, dates from 1851 as the Christian Female College, the first four-year women’s college chartered by a state legislature west of the Mississippi River. In 1970 the college changed both its name and student population, becoming Columbia College, a coeducational, four-year liberal-arts institution.Although it retains a covenant with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Columbia College is a nonsectarian institution. It awards more than $14 million annually in federal, state, and institutional funds for need-based and merit-based scholarships, grants, and loans. The Extended Studies Division at Ozark offers relevant degree programs, convenient scheduling, and affordable tuition at $150 per credit hour in 2009. Classes are offered in eight-week sessions in the evenings and on weekends. Class size at the Ozark branch is small, often fewer than 10, so students get lots of individual attention.
3. The Riverside Inn
City: Ozark, MO
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (417) 581-7051
Address: 2629 North Riverside Dr.
Description: Those interested in fine dining have been coming to the Riverside since 1923, when rumors circulated that people drove down from St. Louis and Kansas City just for famous fried chicken, corn fritters, and “Taney County scotch,” the local moonshine from the hills south of Ozark. The Riverside and its food have stood the test of time. In its 80-year history, the Riverside has been flooded several times by the Finley River, most recently in 2008, but it has always reopened. Owner Eric Engel doesn’t like to think about floods, but he keeps his flood insurance paid! With the Finley River flowing just outside your window, friendly for the moment, you can enjoy steaks, frog’s legs, seafood, that famous fried chicken, and sinful desserts. A great favorite is chateaubriand for two with Rutherford Hill merlot; the steak is a 24-ounce choice cut, and they carve it for you at the table. Enjoy the ambience of the Riverside’s antiques, stained-glass windows, mirrors, and greenhouse, home to the mint plants that add zing to your tea, salads, and sauces. Ask your server about the restaurant’s famous floods, and you’ll be shown the high-water marks on the wall and told stories of bygone days. The wall murals by original owner, artist-businessman Howard Garrison, make for some interesting yarns, too. You can get fine food and an easy local history lesson in a single evening at this dinner-only classic.
4. Antique Emporium
City: Ozark, MO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (417) 581-5555
Address: 1702 West Boat St.
Description: Just north of the Tracker Boat Factory in Ozark on US 65, take the CC exit, and right behind Lambert’s Cafe (home of the “throwed rolls”; see the Restaurants chapter) you’ll find the Antique Emporium. The two together would make an afternoon and evening, with dinner down-home style at the cafe after you’ve tuckered yourself out shopping. With more than 100 booths, the Antique Emporium has more than the usual assortment of old tools and small farm machinery, fishing tackle and gear, boat motors, old advertising items (we wondered if Lambert’s had done some shopping for their decor there!), and sporting antiques such as old golf and billiard gear. They also offer a variety of antique housewares, china, glass, and clothing.
5. Maine Street Antique Mall
City: Ozark, MO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (417) 581-2575
Address: 1994 Evangel St.
Description: The first of the antiques and flea markets in Ozark, this store opened in 1988, and locals thought Carl Miller, an out-of-the-area developer, was an out-of-his-mind entrepreneur. Now the 27,000-square-foot mall has 100 dealers from five states, and business is better than ever because of nearby competing malls. Carl sold out to Interstate Antique Malls of America, who knew a good thing when they saw it, and retired. You can find all sorts of collectibles and upscale antique items. Recently we saw a booth that had the biggest collection of cookie jars we have ever seen, including a rare Casper the Ghost jar. The Maine Street Mall also has the General Store, which features decorator items, coffees, teas, sweets, and eats.
6. Ozark Antique Mall
City: Ozark, MO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (417) 581-5233
Address: 200 North 20th St.
Description: In the complex of antiques shops in Ozark, this 17,000-square-foot store has a mix of old and new. The atmosphere is friendly, and the store encourages browsers and talkers. We liked the fact that you can pick up cards to keep notes about potential buys as you do your browsing. You can actually learn about items here. If you don’t know what it is, Dan and Kathy Walter do, and they say they spend as much time “talkin’ and educatin’ as sellin’.” But they admit they wouldn’t have it any other way. The store seems to carry lots of collectibles from World War II and from the 1930s and 1940s. They also have furniture, lots of vintage signs and advertising, carnival and Depression glass, and watches and clocks.
7. Ozark Balloon Port
City: Ozark, MO
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (417) 581-7373, (417) 725-3449
Address: 2235 Smyrna Rd.
Description: Ozark Balloon Port owner Jim Herschend says a ride in a hot-air balloon is a popular gift idea, according to his customers who often come to celebrate anniversaries, birthdays, and other notable occasions high above the Ozark hills. Since the experience is a bit pricier than, say, a trip to Waltzing Waters—it costs $195 per person for a typical flight—you’d better make sure your gift recipient would approve of the idea before plunking down that 50 percent deposit, which is due at the time the reservation is made. For the past two decades Herschend has been taking folks up, up, and over the treetops 2,000 feet in the air in his five hot-air balloons. The visibility factor and wind speed make each ride unique. Herschend says he has a perfect safety record and won’t go up if there’s any precipitation or too much wind. If it’s windy enough to fly a kite, it’s too windy to go up in a balloon, he says.An award-winning pilot himself, Herschend knows all about balloon safety. In 1992 he and a copilot won the oldest hot-air balloon race in Europe to take home the Gordon Bennett Cup. This marked the first time Americans had won the contest in 33 years. In 1994 he was entered in the National Aeronautic Book for inflating and flying five hot-air balloons underground in Marvel Cave at Silver Dollar City. There are about a dozen sites in and around Ozark from which Herschend launches his balloons. Many of the flights take passengers near the banks of the Finley River, where white-tailed deer and beaver are often spotted. Each balloon holds two to four passengers, and children are welcome as long as they are old enough to follow directions, Herschend says. Balloons may be launched seven days a week, 12 months a year, conditions permitting. The typical flight takes about three hours total, with half of the time spent setting up and the other half in the air. The Ozark Balloon Port business office is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except for January through April, when the office is closed on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
8. Stained Glass Theatre
City: Ozark, MO
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (417) 581-9192
Address: 1996 West Evangel
Description: For over twenty years, Ron Boutwell, cofounder and executive director of the Stained Glass Theatre, has been bringing Christian drama to the Ozarks area. Productions are not “bathrobe drama” but high-quality performances of quality plays at reasonable prices. (Tickets are $5 to $8.) The promise of entertainment with a moral message has drawn people who otherwise might not step into a theater. Stained Glass Theatre offers instruction in acting, directing, and playwriting through its Christian Drama Institute and operates the Stained Glass Theatre-West in Joplin. Like the traveling theater companies of yore, Stained Glass Theatre takes shows into churches, stores, and communities in the Ozarks to audiences who might not ever get to see a live theater production otherwise. Recent productions were The Lord of Two Requests and The Last Oasis. Call the above number for shows and information.