What should a world class resort include? If your list includes the tranquility and peace of gentle rolling hills, pristine creeks, deer running through open fields, waterfalls cascading over multi tiered rustic roadways, wild flowers gently swaying in the breeze, and the wind blowing through the trees, Big Cedar Lodge, located 10 miles south of Branson, Missouri, off of Highway 86, on the shores of Table Rock Lake, just might be for you. In addition to its natural wonders, Big Cedar Lodge has all the services, activities, and amenities one would expect of a world class resort of its caliber and has a rich history that has become part of its present.
Every world class resort has a world class restaurant and Big Cedar Lodge is no different. What is different is that it is located about a stones throw from where, centuries ago, the Osage Indians found a spring they believed was so deep that it flowed down to the Devil himself. They named it Devils Pool, and that name that has stuck for centuries.
In the late 1920s, businessman Jude Simmons and railroad executive Harry Worman bought 300 acres of forest to build upscale resort homes at Devil’s Pool. Simmons constructed a log mansion, and Worman built a stone and stucco house. In 1947, Real estate executive Dan Norris purchased the property added a lodge, swimming pool and stable and called it Devil’s Pool Ranch.
Bass Pro Shops’ John Morris acquired the land in 1987 and, as part of building Big Cedar Lodge, restored the original Simmons and Worman buildings. As part of this restoration the former Simmons house was renovated and is now the houses the resorts world class restaurant.
When the White River was dammed up in 1958, forming
