# Where are the Hillbilles from? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 30, 2002, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-hillbilles-from/130175 "2002-09-30T00:43:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2002, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-hillbilles-from/130175/1 "2002-09-30T00:43:37Z")
The Beverly Hillbillies speak of two home towns, I believe. There is Hooterville, TN as well as Buttussle or Bugtussle, TN? Is this correct? Also, I thought in certain other episodes they made reference to the Dakotas… Maybe they’ve been dipping too much in Granny’s “medicine”? - Jinx 😃 ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2002, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-hillbilles-from/130175/2 "2002-09-30T01:13:10Z")
I did a little Googling and it seems that they are from Bug Tussle, TN. They also had kin folk in Hooterville and often spent xmas with them. [TV Land](http://www.tvland.com/shows/beverlyhillbillies/index.jhtml?&TimeZone=-3) [Sitcom online](http://www.sitcomsonline.com/thebeverlyhillbillies.html) Haj ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2002, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-hillbilles-from/130175/3 "2002-09-30T02:43:49Z")
Hooterville…wasn’t that Petticoat Junction? ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2002, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-hillbilles-from/130175/4 "2002-09-30T03:03:03Z")
Beverly Hillbillies - premier September, 1962. Instant Hit. #1 one month after debut. Petticoat Junction (Hooterville) - premier September, 1963. Instant Hit. 4th highest in season, with a 30.3 rating. Green Acres (also Hooterville)- premier September, 1965. #11 in the first season. They saw money and ran with it. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2002, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-hillbilles-from/130175/5 "2002-09-30T03:04:42Z")
Yes, it was petticoat Junction, and it was also Green Acres. E3 ---
**Author:** ![Yossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2002, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-hillbilles-from/130175/6 "2002-09-30T12:20:48Z")
According to the _E! True Hollywood Story: The Beverly Hillbillies_, (note: this thread is not about my questionable taste in television shows) the “real life” Bugtussle/Petticoat Junction/Hooterville was (go figure) Branson, MO. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2002, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-hillbilles-from/130175/7 "2002-09-30T12:49:02Z")
According to Ray Davies, it was Muswell Hills, London 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2002, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-hillbilles-from/130175/8 "2002-09-30T12:53:53Z")
1963 - a simple and innocent time. “Hooterville” was a reference to the sounds of the town’s railroad locomotive. I doubt you could get away with naming a town “Hooterville” now. Or Melonville, for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2002, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-hillbilles-from/130175/9 "2002-09-30T13:54:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Pantellerite \* > \*\*According to the _E! True Hollywood Story: The Beverly Hillbillies_, (note: this thread is not about my questionable taste in television shows) the “real life” Bugtussle/Petticoat Junction/Hooterville was (go figure) Branson, MO. \*\* Maybe. But there is an actual place called “Bug Scuffle” in, I believe, Arkansas. I think there may be a place with the same name in Tennessee. (I think the name is a translation of an earlier Cherokee-language place name.) ---
**Author:** ![Yossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2002, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-hillbilles-from/130175/10 "2002-09-30T15:31:04Z")
I wouldn’t be suprised if Branson wasn’t the “original” origin of the Beverly Hillbillies, even if that might be the “official” one now (according to E!, that is). The sequence of events (as I interpreted the show) seems to have been: 1. BH becomes popular show, 2. CBS capitalizes on BH with PJ, GA, 3. Someone else (connected with BH and/or CBS) decides to capitalize further with a BH/PJ/GA-esque themed family funland… 4. …which happened to wind up in Branson, MO. 5. So, retroactivley BH were “from” Branson. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2002, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-hillbilles-from/130175/11 "2002-09-30T20:05:04Z")
All three shows were Filmways productions (except for, I think, _Petticoat Junction_, which was a Waysfilm production-one of the producers did more on that than on the others), so they all had the same producers. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2002, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-hillbilles-from/130175/12 "2002-09-30T20:21:33Z")
I would be happy if people just wouldn’t assume the Beverly Hillbillies came from _Kentucky_. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2002, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-hillbilles-from/130175/13 "2002-09-30T21:12:13Z")
Nope. Dem was hillbillys. ---
**Author:** ![audit1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@audit1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audit1)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2002, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-hillbilles-from/130175/14 "2002-10-01T00:27:23Z")
The Clampett homestead was in Bugtussle. No state was ever mentioned but it must have been in the South since Granny was a strong supporter of the Confederacy. Later on they did crossover episodes with petticoat Junction. which is where Hooterville comes in . (the Bradleys were distant relations.) They also filmed some Clampetts return home episodes on location in Branson MO. ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2002, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-hillbilles-from/130175/15 "2002-10-01T00:37:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ellen Cherry \* > \*\*I would be happy if people just wouldn’t assume the Beverly Hillbillies came from _Kentucky_. \*\* Amen. And incidentally but I’ll never forgive the BH for what they did to the name Jethro. It’s a nice, bibilical name and the name of my grandfather. But now it’s become equivalent to moron. I hate that. 'Scuse the slightly bitter hijack. I’m better now.