Exploring The Physical Setting Of Where The Red Fern Grows

Step One: What are the Ozarks?

Click on the following link, which is a short description of the Ozark Wildlife Management Area. It has a description of the area and the wildlife found there.

https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/wildlife-management-areas/ozark-plateau

Below is a link to a map that shows where the Ozarks are located and how the Ozark region is subdivided.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozarks#/media/File:OzarkOverview.jpg

Step Two: Places mentioned in the book.

Watch a portion of this video. It is a long video and you do not need to watch all of it. The video is taken at Dripping Springs in Oklahoma.

The next video is a tourism video advertising Robber's Cave State Park. Watch all of it.

Next, click on the link below. This is a travel brochure about Tahlequah, Oklahoma. This brochure has a lot of text. You will not have time to read all of it, but the section on the history of Tahlequah is very interesting. Focus on looking at the pictures of Tahlequah and notice the article on page three about the "Red Fern Festival". Scroll through the brochure and notice the map showing the Illinois River which is also mentioned in the book.

http://www.tourtahlequah.com/uploads/3/9/4/1/39413933/tahlequahvisitorsguide_2016_web_1.pdf

Step Three: Historical Reference--Cherokee Allotments

In the second chapter of the book, the setting of most of the story is introduced, and it is mentioned that the land the family lives on was Cherokee land given or allotted to his mother because of her Cherokee heritage. Click on the link below to read about how it is that the area around Tahlequah came to be the home of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.

https://www.ducksters.com/history/native_americans/trail_of_tears.php

We have not yet reached the place in the book that reveals the meaning of the title. Visit the following website to read about the red fern. It is a a bit of a spoiler, but I don't think pre-reading about it will ruin that magic!

http://stateoftheozarks.net/natural/plants/redfern.php

I searched the internet to try and determine if the legend of the red fern is an actual Cherokee legend and could not find any evidence that it was. Maybe Wilson Rawls created the legend for the book or maybe it was a legend he had heard as a child growing up in Oklahoma. His mother was part Cherokee so it is possible she told him about it.

This is the end of this section.