Southard, OK

April 22, 2007
I felt like I was being rocked to sleep last night!! The winds were so strong I am sure we had hurricane strength gusts!!! This is a very nice park. It has an indoor heated swimming pool that we took advantage of last night along with a spa.

The day was filled with mixed disappointment and amusement. At the end we felt it was a good day as we got to see lots of the countryside. Instead of looking at water, we were looking at acres of ‘waiving grain’. It was really quite pretty.

We started the day expecting to go to a worship service here in the park just to find out that they don’t have one anymore since the person that used to do them moved. By that time we were too late to go to one of the local churches.

We drove to Southard, OK, the town named for my great grandfather. My mother was there in the 80’s and I always wondered why the only picture she had of the town was her in front of a dilapidated building. Doug and I were thinking we would go and search for some history and maybe have lunch at a little local restaurant. We asked someone local for directions and he said there is nothing in Southard but a gypsum plant.

We followed all the signs to the town and went about 10 miles beyond and still could not find it. We turned around and went back to the USGypsum plat that also had a trailer Post Office next to it. It was then that we saw the little building along the railroad that had the sign ‘Southard’ on it. This was the building mother had her picture taken in front of and the one above this log!! The only other thing beside the gypsum plant was an old building that had the name of a hunting club on it. Looked like it was probably the only surviving structure of the original Southard. We had to laugh, this was all that was left of Southard, OK. When someone tells me there is nothing there but “” I will ask if they mean it literally!!!

The history we found was that it was named after a developer, George H. Southard who was also associated with US Gypsum. That was my grandfathers father.

As I said it was not a total loss as we really enjoyed the drive. We almost had a very large wild turkey hit the windshield if we had been driving a little faster. Also got to visit an old cemetery. I love visiting old cemeteries and tracing whole families.

Also on the way home we visited the Chisholm Trail Museum in Kingfish. It was really interesting and as usual, when we visit museums, we are amazed at the amount of items we have either owned or used!!!! The history gives a new appreciation of the people that were brave enough to settle this part of the country.