The Naming of Shine Hollow Ranch

I have never lived in a "named" place before.  So, as I began to write the story of how our little piece of  Missouri got its name, I began to ponder why we felt so compelled to name it.  It never occurred to me to name the house I grew up in - a good sized stucco home in a tiny Iowa town.  It never occurred to me to name any of my subsequent dwellings either - my dormroom in college, my first apartments, my first house in Marina del Rey, California, the next in Redondo Beach, California, later the one on the intracoastal in Belleair, Florida, and the last one, a Spanish bungalow in Tampa, Florida.  All of them were nice, respectable places to live.  Some of them had more character than others (My little spanish bungalow will always be my personal favorite in that category.)  Yet, none of them ever demanded or compelled me to give them a name. 

It wasn't long after we found our Missouri property that we began to discuss names for it.  I don't remember whether it was me or my husband Jerry who first brought it up.  But it came up with some regularity until we settled on the 'right one'.  For that, we have to thank our neighbor Jack.  Although we did not purchase the property from him, Jack once owned it and other surrounding property.  He operated a hog farm here. His wife Jody was a school teacher and principal and they raised their two daughters Stacy and Lisa here.  He still lives just down the road in the underground house overlooking Big Sugar Creek which he built in the 70s. 

We met Jack shortly after we purchased the property.  We were not ready to move here but came to visit and stay for a few days.   We had heard that there was a cave included in the land that we purchased but had not been able to find it.  Jack explained that it was located in the very southwestern corner of our 64 acres.  There is a substantial rocky outcropping there which is very characteristic of this part of the Ozarks.  A natural spring flows through the rocks and there is an overhang that extends 10 feet or so over a pond formed by the spring.  There is no easy way to get to this area from our house other than a 20 to 30 minute hike on some pretty rough terrain. 

One day, we put on our hiking boots, packed some bottled water, camera and took off determined to find the cave.   To the two of us who had been city dwellers for many years, it was spectacular - a beautiful formation of rock hewn by water that had been there eroding and changing since the Ice Age.  We were thrilled to find it and reported our success to neighbor Jack.  His response was, "Well, you have found Shine Hollow!"  He went on to explain that it was referred to as Shine Hollow because it was used by moonshiners in the 30s.  While we have no way to confirm this, it would be a perfect location due to the ready supply of fresh water and protected area where smoke would not have been easily detected.  

Jerry and I looked at each other. There was no hesitation, doubt or compromise necessary.  Our new home was named Shine Hollow Ranch!

The name was easily settled  and we are still happy with the decision nearly 5 years later.  However, I have still not completely rationalized our compulsion to name the property.  I have been doing some research on the internet to try to find out why some houses have names.  I think that is a subject for a future post.