Folk wisdom varies from region to region, and the Ozark Mountain variety was, and still is, peculiar and very special to the residents of this grand range. For the most part, early Ozarkers, though scattered, were bound together by common geography, religion, ethnic background, language, customs, dress, architecture, and even hardship. Wisdom as it related to survival and just getting by was accumulated and freely shared among these isolated residents. The people living throughout the Ozark Mountains often had to depend on each other for medical treatment, weather and crop information, and any number of other elements associated with living in a remote environment far from stores, physicians, and newspapers.