# What state were the Beverly Hillbillies originally from? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 15, 2004, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-were-the-beverly-hillbillies-originally-from/259953 "2004-08-15T16:09:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-were-the-beverly-hillbillies-originally-from/259953/21 "2004-08-16T14:03:37Z")
> [@t-keela](#): > > So without oil Texas is basically a useless patch of desert filled w/ rednecks? Forget about the cattle industry and agriculture… Except for that oil thing, right. Does that about sum it up? Nice ☹ Yeah, nothing of note has happened here recently. No NASA, no Dell, there’s absolutely no music in Austin, and the Houston museums are just plain empty etc etc . 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-were-the-beverly-hillbillies-originally-from/259953/22 "2004-08-16T17:13:15Z")
> [@t-keela](#): > > Let’s see now…there’s a little panhandle in southeast Mo. that sits in between Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas. . .Yep folks if’n ya wanna get away from the rat race, that’s the place. 😃 The Missouri bootheel is river bottom land from the Mississippi and flat Flat FLAT. The Clampetts could have been from southern Missouri, northern Arkansas or even a bit of northeast Oklahoma. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-were-the-beverly-hillbillies-originally-from/259953/23 "2004-08-16T17:15:04Z")
I distinctly remember Granny saying something about being Volunteers, with a capital V. Not that they were alumni of the college, but alluding to how the folks from that fine state originally got that moniker. Hmmm, I seem to be channeling **overlyverbose** on that one. ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-were-the-beverly-hillbillies-originally-from/259953/24 "2004-08-16T17:17:08Z")
> [@Tapioca Dextrin](#): > > Yeah, nothing of note has happened here recently. No NASA, no Dell, there’s absolutely no music in Austin, and the Houston museums are just plain empty etc etc . 😉 I could’ve mentioned those and thousands of others but I figured that since these came AFTER oil was discovered then they wouldn’t count. > [@FriarTed](#): > > I know the movie isn’t canon, but the Clampetts do comment about "Cousin Bill’ (Clinton), so make of that what you will. Just TV taking advantage…IIRC BC was actually on _Designing Women_ when he was merely the Governor of Arkansas. Charlene was always rambling on about cousin Bill. I don’t remember her mentioning the Clampett’s. BUT I culd’ve missed it. She did resemble Ellie May a little bit. **Number Six** boot heal ya say? When Josey Wales passed through there it was probably **boot hill**. **KRM** I was reading some cite that showed there was a Bugtussle in OK, MO, TN. Ark. and KY. It didn’t say if the towns were older than the TV series or perhaps the series picked a name that would fit in with lots of places. I have been led to believe it was the latter based on some comments on the Bev.Hillbillies web site. In reality, I don’t think it was ever actually said for certain what state Jed and Ellie were from… \*in reality[/] :rolleyes: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zelski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c67d28/32.png) [@Zelski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zelski)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-were-the-beverly-hillbillies-originally-from/259953/25 "2004-08-16T22:47:00Z")
I’m with **Sean Factotum** on this one. There is an episode where some battle of the Civil War will be enacted, either as a re-enactment type activity or as a part of a movie. Jethro ends up on one side and he wears a Tennessee Volunteer uniform that he inherited. The location expert (for the re-enactment or movie) identifies it as such and states that the uniform was extremely authentic. ---
**Author:** ![bughunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-were-the-beverly-hillbillies-originally-from/259953/26 "2004-08-16T23:25:29Z")
> [@Booker57](#): > > Before the oil rush, what was Texas good for? Beef. Texas’ primary claim to fame before oil was cattle, cowboys, and, of course, it’s history as an independant Republic… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-were-the-beverly-hillbillies-originally-from/259953/27 "2004-08-17T00:12:07Z")
Wherever they’re from it’s someplace with hills and hillbillies. That lets out Texas and Oklahoma. The American Anglo-Celtic-Protestant “Highlands South” subculture known as “hillbillies” comes from the Ozarks, the Appalachians (southern half – from West Virginia on down), and noplace else. Right? I mean, there are no (indigenous) hillbillies in the Rockies or the Sierra Nevada. Or in western Pennsylvania. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-were-the-beverly-hillbillies-originally-from/259953/28 "2004-08-17T00:34:01Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Wherever they’re from it’s someplace with hills and hillbillies. That lets out Texas and Oklahoma. The American Anglo-Celtic-Protestant “Highlands South” subculture known as “hillbillies” comes from the Ozarks, the Appalachians (southern half – from West Virginia on down), and noplace else. Right? I mean, there are no (indigenous) hillbillies in the Rockies or the Sierra Nevada. Or in western Pennsylvania. Actually, the Ozarks extend into the eastern part of Oklahoma, not far from the aforementioned Bug Tussle. And they’re full of hillbillies. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-were-the-beverly-hillbillies-originally-from/259953/29 "2004-08-17T02:54:09Z")
Since the Clampetts came from the same area as Hooterville, etc., we can assume their ZIP Code would be similar. On the **Green Acres** reunion movie from the early 90s, Sam Drucker mentioned their ZIP Code was 417??1/2 (I forget a couple digits). Now, there is no such thing as a 1/2 at the end of a ZIP, but 417etc. is a Kentucky ZIP, southern KY, as a matter of fact. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![gyrospinup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a9adbd/32.png) [@gyrospinup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gyrospinup)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2017, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-were-the-beverly-hillbillies-originally-from/259953/30 "2017-07-01T11:30:45Z")
Jed and Elly Clampett lived close to Bug Tussle near Branson, Mo. Granny who was Jeds mother in-law, moved from Tennessee to live with Jed and Elly. Pearl and Jethro Bodine lived a short distance from the Clampetts in Arkansas. The old truck sits in a museum at Point Lookout, Mo. just south of Branson. Various towns and locations in both the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks are mentioned in many episodes. The 417 that somebody referred to is probably actually a area code and not a zip code since the Missouri Ozarks is area code 417. ---
**Author:** ![crucible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@crucible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crucible)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2017, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-were-the-beverly-hillbillies-originally-from/259953/31 "2017-07-01T12:30:42Z")
a believe the theme song describes Jed as a ‘poor Mountaineer’, so I always presumed West Virginia. This thread makes is clear, however, that the Ozarks could also, and probably were, the home ground. Not much oil in WV, Tenn, or Arkansas, is there? Oklahoma, yep. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2017, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-were-the-beverly-hillbillies-originally-from/259953/32 "2017-07-01T12:34:32Z")
An episode of the show took place in Silver Dollar City. The shows characters were obviously inspired by Li’l Abner comic and Dogpatch USA. That puts them on the Arkansas/Missouri border. > **[Silver Dollar City](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Dollar_City)** > > Silver Dollar City is a 61-acre (25 ha) amusement park in Stone County, Missouri, near the cities of Branson and Branson West. The park is located off of Missouri Route 76 on the Indian Point peninsula of Table Rock Lake. Silver Dollar City opened on May 1, 1960. The park is an 1880s-themed experience. Silver Dollar City's operating season runs from March until December, with the park closed for two months. Silver Dollar City is owned by Herschend Family Entertainment. > Silver Dollar City is sit... > **["The Beverly Hillbillies" Silver Dollar City Fair (TV Episode 1969) ⭐ 6.4 |...](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0522562/)** > > 30m I seem to recall they lived just outside of that area. > [@](#): > > The Clampets travel back to the hills to attend the Silver Dollar Fair. Granny and Elverna Bradshaw compete to find mates for their ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2017, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-were-the-beverly-hillbillies-originally-from/259953/33 "2017-07-01T12:41:47Z")
What about Pixley? That was considered the big city in the entire Hooterville Trilogy. I lean close to Tennessee being the state in question. In the later years of the _Hillbillies_ though, they spent several episodes in Silver City, which was supposedly near their home. Silver City is in Missouri as I understand it. Dammit! Ninja’d again! ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2017, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-were-the-beverly-hillbillies-originally-from/259953/34 "2017-07-01T12:45:38Z")
A bit more detail on the Silver Dollar City connection. > **[Silver Dollar City](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Dollar_City)** > > Silver Dollar City is a 61-acre (25 ha) amusement park in Stone County, Missouri, near the cities of Branson and Branson West. The park is located off of Missouri Route 76 on the Indian Point peninsula of Table Rock Lake. Silver Dollar City opened on May 1, 1960. The park is an 1880s-themed experience. Silver Dollar City's operating season runs from March until December, with the park closed for two months. Silver Dollar City is owned by Herschend Family Entertainment. > Silver Dollar City is sit... > [@](#): > > The Clampett family of CBS-TV’s The Beverly Hillbillies decided to pay a visit to Silver Dollar City (treated as an actual town, rather than a theme park) to start off the 1969-1970 season. The plotline involved Granny (Irene Ryan) attempting to find a husband for Elly May (Donna Douglas) back in the hills, while Jed (Buddy Ebsen) socialized with hotel clerk Shorty Kellems (Shug Fisher). They visited the blacksmith Shad Heller, soapmaker Granny Ethel Huffman, and woodcarver Peter Engler, and Miss Hathaway (Nancy Kulp) was seen in the Ozark woods. The Hillbillies were from the area surrounding Silver Dollar City and Branson, and references to Jim Owens and his White River float trip business and some Missouri mountain locations were made throughout the show’s nine-year run. Five episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies were eventually shot in the park. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2017, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-were-the-beverly-hillbillies-originally-from/259953/35 "2017-07-01T13:38:11Z")
Hooterville and Pixley (and Crabwell Corners) were where the Douglases and Bradleys lived on _ **Green Acres** _ and _ **Petticoat Junction** _, respectively. Jed and clan visited the area in a few crossover episodes, due to some convoluted family relations. They were always more Midwest flatlands than Southern hills and mountains. Jethro’s uniform was indeed that of the Tennessee Volunteers. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2017, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-were-the-beverly-hillbillies-originally-from/259953/36 "2017-07-01T14:18:42Z")
> [@crucible](#): > > Not much oil in WV, Tenn, or Arkansas, is there? Oklahoma, yep. The show premiered in 1962 but I can’t find [state level oil production data](https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_crd_crpdn_adc_mbblpd_a.htm) until 1981. In that year, production levels (in thousands of barrels per day) were MO: 1 TN: 3 WV: 10 AR: 50 OK: 422 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2017, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-were-the-beverly-hillbillies-originally-from/259953/37 "2017-07-01T14:35:25Z")
They often refer to mountains, in reference to where they are from. Oil exists in East Tennessee, & Kentucky, & those areas have mountains. I assume Appalachia. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2017, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-were-the-beverly-hillbillies-originally-from/259953/38 "2017-07-01T14:36:40Z")
Li’l Abner deserves a lot of credit for the popularity of the 60’s rural shows. Daisy Mae is likely the inspiration for Ellie Mae. They toned down the character’s sexy costume for tv. Donna had Daisy’s curves and could have easily starred in a Li’l Abner movie. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2017, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-were-the-beverly-hillbillies-originally-from/259953/39 "2017-07-01T14:56:22Z")
What, no hillbilly zombie jokes yet? This thread is thirteen years old. Sigh. The SDMB just ain’t what it used to be… ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2017, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-were-the-beverly-hillbillies-originally-from/259953/40 "2017-07-01T15:41:22Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > The show premiered in 1962 but I can’t find [state level oil production data](https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_crd_crpdn_adc_mbblpd_a.htm) until 1981. In that year, production levels (in thousands of barrels per day) were > > MO: 1 > TN: 3 > WV: 10 > AR: 50 > OK: 422 You can see production by state from 1960-2015 here in 1,000’s bbl/yr. [https://www.eia.gov/state/seds/sep\_prod/SEDS\_Production\_Report.pdf](https://www.eia.gov/state/seds/sep_prod/SEDS_Production_Report.pdf) West Virginia was a major oil state much further back, No. 2 in 1900 behind Ohio. California, Texas and Oklahoma (which was No. 1 for awhile from 1907) began dominating in the early 20th century. The fields along the Pennsylvania/NY border dominated from the dawn of the modern petroleum industry till the 1890’s. But 1900 production was tiny by today’s standards. WV in 1900 avged 44,000 bbl/day which was around 1/4 of total US production. By 1960 it was 6,000 bpd out of ~7mil nationally. Now it’s 21,000 of ~9.4mil. Anyway it seems Beverly Hillbillies cognoscenti have identified several direct references to the Ozarks area near the Arkansas-Missouri border. And while the whole show is farcical, obviously, very loosely speaking the Clampetts are a comical suddenly rich version of the Joads in ‘The Grapes of Wrath’, who were from the Ozark Uplift part of eastern OK (hardly any of the state’s oil production), though not hill people per se. The oil part is relatively more fanciful than the rest. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-were-the-beverly-hillbillies-originally-from/259953.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-were-the-beverly-hillbillies-originally-from/259953.md?page=3)