Her name was Birdle Mannon.  Her friends called her Miss Birdie.  She was born in 1909, and lived her entire life in a two-room log cabin located adjacent to The Mark Twain National Forest south of Ava, Missouri, near the village of Brownbranch.  You can find it if you have a good map.   

After Miss Birdie finished high school, she went to Missouri State University where she received a Missouri teaching certificate.  After which, she returned to her parent's cabin and taught in some one-roomed rural schools that were still in operation near-by. 

Miss Birdie never married.  She said she would have, but just never met the right man. 

After her parents died, and later her one sister, she continued to live alone in the cabin until she passed from this life in 1999.  The cabin had no plumbing, no electricity, was heated with a wood stove and had a wood kitchen range.  Miss Birdie would can chickens, squirrels and rabbits along with garden vegetables and wild berries in Mason jars. 

Miss Birdie's cabin was disassembled and re-erected at Silver Dollar City in Branson.  When you visit there, be sure to go into Birdle Mannon's cabin.  You will be appalled by how primitive it is. 

Miss Birdie was buried in the Clark Cemetery, located in the Mark Twain National Forest about a mile from her homesite.  On April 3rd twelve members from Mountain Riders of Sho Me Back Country Horsemen, Douglas County Foxtrotting Horse Breeders Association, and the Taney County Riding Club had a work-day.  We first cleaned the Clark Cemetery, then we drove about three miles to the Merriman Cemetery, which is also located in the Mark Twain.  We had cleaned the Merriman two years ago and had personnel from the Missouri Historical society there to record locations, dates, etc. 

Of course, food was not neglected.  We set up a grill and at noon and had hamburgers and hot dogs. This is the kind of thing we do. We have never sought recognition or publicity.  We are, however, proud of the things we accomplish.

Dale Lawson