Special thanks to Robert Jones for sharing information about the Rock House located on the Ozark Highlands Trail just west of Hwy 23. Robert was directed to my blog by one of his friends. I’m thankful that he shared the following:

I live at Cass on Fanes Creek and am proud of my family’s connection to the Cass area. I also want to state that the correct spelling is Fain as recorded on early deeds and government maps. All children of J. F. Owen are deceased and the grandchildren are getting on in age, so I want to record the following while my mind and memory is still good.

This is a family account of THE ROCK HOUSE According to some of the children of J. F. Owen, my mother, Laverve (Owen) Jones, my uncles .J. F. Owen, Jr. (Pug), Perry Owen, and Bobby Gene Owen, and my aunt Stella Owen. (Stella’s ashes were spread on top of the Rock House by Pug. I accompanied Pug on this occasion.)

Granddaddy built the Rock House in the early 1900’s when he marked timber for his brother Hardy B. Owen, who apparently had some of the timber rights to this area. Hardy was very wealthy and his life is written in the history of Mississippi. The spring flowed in at the corner and into a rock and concrete basin which drained into a hole in the floor close to the basin. The rock shelf was used to store clothes and household items.

It’s hard to imagine that the mountains were home to many families at this time and before. Much of the land was farmed which accounts for the many rock fences and graveyards in the mountains.

Some stories told by the children are as follows:

The children would visit and stay with their father in the summer and pick the wild fruits in the mountains. They would visit the falls located down the hill on West Mountain Creek. The pool below the falls was described as “bottomless” and abundant with fish. I know the pool has a bottom as I have been there, but that is another funny story.

There was a rope swing above the house and the children would swing out over the front.

The road at the time was located up the mountain from the house but I have not tried to locate the old road. Uncle Hardy would drive his car there and walk down to the house. When the children would be with him, they said they pushed the car as much as they rode, probably why their uncle took them along.

Stella rode a horse from town in the night to inform her father of the birth of Bobby Gene.

Granddaddy sat down on a rock to rest one day and sat on a rattlesnake. He killed the snake, but said he regretted doing so since the snake didn’t bite him.

I feel the structure should be recognized as historic and preserved by our government as it has deteriorated a lot since my first visit. In the meantime, I hope all who visit will leave it as found.