# Where Are The Beverly Hillbillies From? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [February 12, 2020, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-beverly-hillbillies-from/847806 "2020-02-12T04:23:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-beverly-hillbillies-from/847806/121 "2021-10-29T19:47:25Z")
Nothing to add, I just want to say I hope @Ynnad has finished his stay at the asylum and is no longer obsessed with such unknowable mysteries. Welcome to the board @Gabe1 ! I think you need to narrow it down from a whole state tho. I think we need exactly where the black gold was located. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2021, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-beverly-hillbillies-from/847806/122 "2021-10-30T22:55:31Z")
The OP mentioned Carroll county, Arkansas. Is that the same “Carroll County” (picture show) mentioned in the song “Ode to Billie Joe”? ---
**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:** [October 31, 2021, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-beverly-hillbillies-from/847806/123 "2021-10-31T00:23:26Z")
Nope, that’s in Mississippi. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2021, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-beverly-hillbillies-from/847806/124 "2021-10-31T00:50:22Z")
> [@mordecaiB](#): > > Welcome to the board @Gabe1 ! I think you need to narrow it down from a whole state tho. I think we need exactly where the black gold was located. The black gold is in South Arkansas. A large oil deposit was discovered in Union County in the 1920’s. My grandad worked in the oil fields for 40 years. It’s mostly been pumped out now. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2021, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-beverly-hillbillies-from/847806/125 "2021-10-31T02:04:54Z")
I think that according to the “Hollywood Elites” all yokels lived within a hundred mile radius of each other. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2021, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-beverly-hillbillies-from/847806/126 "2021-10-31T02:12:00Z")
> [@Gabe1](#): > > They were from Arkansas, because Granny mentioned the Razorback Hog newspaper. I thought I remembered something like that, but I coiuldn’t remember what it was. And, yes, @Ynnad, my grandparents used all of those with abandon, and my parents use them sometimes. I only really use “fixin’ to,” myself, except when I’m deliberately mimicking the older generations. As for “[over] yonder,” I tend to associate that term most often with heaven, due to the hymns. But it definitely means something like “over there,” just beyond sight, while “way over yonder” means you’ll have to travel a ways. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2021, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-beverly-hillbillies-from/847806/127 "2021-10-31T02:19:53Z")
The Clampett’s are not from southern Arkansas, that’s just silly. It does not matter that there’s not much oil farther north if any, the premise is just that they managed to find some there anyway. It’s fiction, folks, not a documentary. References abound to their being from the Ozark Mountains, which are in northern Arkansas and Missouri. My mother was from the Arkansas Ozarks, and I used to spend a lot of time there, but I’ve always felt the Clampett’s were from across the state line in Missouri. That may be due to one episode I clearly remember in which they highlighted a real-life hillbilly crafts festival in some Missouri town that they treated as “back home.” As for razorbacks, I’m pretty sure Missouri has them too. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2021, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-beverly-hillbillies-from/847806/128 "2021-10-31T02:33:04Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > As for razorbacks, I’m pretty sure Missouri has them too. Sure, but I believe only a place in Arkansas would name their paper after them, as they are our sports mascot. It shows up in businesses that want to associate themselves with “Arkansas Pride”—for lack of a better term. I remember a Razorback bank, for instance. * * * Also, one other thing that I use that identifies where I live that I mentioned above I use “figured” to mean “assumed.” And, when said quickly, “figured” is pronounced “figgered.” ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2021, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-beverly-hillbillies-from/847806/129 "2021-10-31T02:33:47Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > The Clampett’s > the Clampett’s Nitpick: Clampetts, not Clampett’s. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2021, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-beverly-hillbillies-from/847806/130 "2021-10-31T02:42:12Z")
It’s like asking in which year _A Christmas Story_ takes place. It’s not specific, it’s not supposed to be specific. They took a bunch of towns with sitcom-funny names (Bug Tussle, Joplin, Eureka Springs) and made up a place where they were all within rock-throwin’ distance of each other. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2021, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-beverly-hillbillies-from/847806/131 "2021-10-31T04:41:00Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Nitpick: Clampetts, not Clampett’s. D’oh! Of course. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2021, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-beverly-hillbillies-from/847806/132 "2021-10-31T04:44:05Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Sure, but I believe only a place in Arkansas would name their paper after them, as they are our sports mascot. It shows up in businesses that want to associate themselves with “Arkansas Pride”—for lack of a better term. I remember a Razorback bank, for instance. I’m not convinced. They could be close enough to the state line that the Clampetts could be in Missouri and still have access to an Arkansas paper. Their flat-out considering that Missouri town “back home” is strong evidence to me. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2021, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-beverly-hillbillies-from/847806/133 "2021-10-31T11:10:46Z")
In an earlier thread, I think it was decided they came from the area on the Mississippi bordered by Tennessee and Arkansas. I’m pretty sure Granny (Jed’s mother-in-law) was from Tennessee (Jethro wore a Tennessee Volunteers uniform in one of the Civil War episodes) and the company that bought their oil was based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. So Clan Clampett was presumably rooted somewhere in between the two, almost certainly in Arkansas. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2021, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-beverly-hillbillies-from/847806/134 "2021-10-31T11:21:24Z")
I thought their hometown was Bugtussle. There are a bunch of towns with this name down south (including Oklahoma and Tennessee). ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2021, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-beverly-hillbillies-from/847806/135 "2021-10-31T20:41:45Z")
Bugtussle sounds familiar. But I think the show took the opportunity to highlight the real-life fair of this Missouri town and so considered it “back home.” Can’t remember the name, but it was not Branson. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2021, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-beverly-hillbillies-from/847806/136 "2021-10-31T21:41:19Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > They were from a rural Southern state that smug Hollywood scriptwriters liked to mock. The actual name of the state is ultimately unknowable. With all that’s gone into this thread, I find it bizarre nobody’s mentioned that the show’s creator and head writer, [Paul Henning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Henning), grew up in Independence, Missouri. Also, TIL that Tennessee borders eight states. That must be the most of any American state. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2021, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-beverly-hillbillies-from/847806/137 "2021-10-31T22:07:59Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Also, TIL that Tennessee borders eight states. That must be the most of any American state. Tennessee and Missouri both border eight states. Colorado and Kentucky both border seven. On the opposite end of the scale, Maine borders one. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2021, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-beverly-hillbillies-from/847806/138 "2021-10-31T22:23:00Z")
Given that these borders were all drawn up at some point by a governmental committee, none of the facts surrounding state borders strike me as being particularly interesting. It was all intentional. If they had wanted they could have drawn them differently. That’s why things like “four corners” strike me as kind of “fake wonders,” so to speak. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2021, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-beverly-hillbillies-from/847806/139 "2021-10-31T22:57:06Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > On the opposite end of the scale, Maine borders one. Not quite the end of the scale, when Alaska and Hawaii each border zero. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-beverly-hillbillies-from/847806.md?page=6)