07/14/11

On to the next adventure with the bestie.

Since we were so close to "Walton's Mountain" we decided to check it out.  I used to love that show... and still enjoy watching the re-runs.  There are not a lot of good, wholesome shows out there on television these days. 

Do you have your humming voice ready?  

Hum the Walton's theme with me....  

"nu, nu, nu, nu, nu, nuuuuuuuuuu... nu, nu, nu, nu, nu, nu, nu.  Nu, nu, nu, nu, nu, nu, nuuuuuuu.  Nu, nununu.  Nunununununununu.  nu.  etc... "

Tried to find it on YouTube but didn't find a good one....

You get the point.

Here are models of the house that were made in honor of the museum opening in 1992.

I will be the first to say.  I was a bit disappointed when we went. 

Wanna know why?

Of course you do!

Well, it is like this.  There is really no such thing as Walton's Mountain... it is called Schuyler, Virginia.  The Walton's home above is not there, either.  In fact, the whole set was burned and destroyed in Hollywood in the early 1980's.

You may think that I should have known that.  

Maybe I should have.  I just figured the house was filmed on location like they do today.  I forgot the filming took place in the 1960's/early 1970's.  :)

The creator of the show, Earl Hamner, is who the Walton's was about.  He wrote it about him and his family.  What is interesting is all of the cast members were chosen based on how closely they were to the real part of his family.  Earl Hamner was "John Boy" and he was the one who talked as the older "John Boy" on the show.  

Below is his actual house which was used as a beginning point for the design of the real Walton's set.  This is Earl Hamner's homeplace.  It has been fixed up recently and you can tour the house... which, of course, we did.  :)

Before we walked up the steps my bestie and I stepped back and hummed the song as we walked up the steps.

 

The house was set up as close as possible to how it was when Earl Hamner lived there.  We went upstairs and saw his bedroom.  In the show, John Boy had his own bedroom... however, Earl Hamner had to share this little bedroom with his four brothers!  His three sisters had to share one bedroom, too.

Here is my bestie at Earl Hamner's desk where he used to write, just like John Boy did on the show.

 

Here am I trying to think deeply on my writing.  Too bad Earl didn't have a computer to write a blog.

 Do you remember the radio above?  This is in the museum which is across the street from Earl Hamner's house.  It used to be his school.

They have different rooms set up to look like the set did on the show.

Living Room

 Kitchen

 John Boy's Room

 Script office and Earl Hamner's church below.

 We are glad we went since we were so close.  I am not so sure I would drive all the way up there just for that, though.  :)  It was interesting to find out about the cast then and now.  It was also funny to watch the video of when the museum opened in 1992 and how everyone looked... big glasses, big hair, big clothes.  We were still stuck in the 1980's in the early 1990's. 

So with that....

"'Night John Boy"

"Night 'Lizabeth"

"Night Momma"

"Night my PEEPS"

until the next stop on the adventure.....