I checked his answer out in "The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows.". It states that there is one episode in which Granny returns "home" to Bug Tussle, hoping to find a husband for Elly May.
The book also states that the Clampetts traveled to Hooterville around Christmas to spend the holidays with their friends "back home."
They appear to have lived in the Ozarks, in Bug Tussle, somewhere near Hooterville.
--Janese Baket, Milwaukee, Wisc.
DEAR JANESE: Yours is but one of many interesting interpretations we received. Let's look at a few others:
In one show, Jed and Pearl (Jethro's mother) go to the movies in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.
Jed and Pearl are said to live eight miles apart.
Jethro is reportedly from Bug Tussle.
The Clampetts once took a back road from Bug Tussle to Silver Dollar City, near Branson, Missouri, where they have friends.
From these facts, it can be concluded the clan lived in the southern Missouri Ozarks, near Bug Tussle.
--John DuBois, Danville, Ill.
Hooterville was nearby and Pixley was a little further away. Bug Tussle is where they went to see all the latest movies so that must have been close.
I love that show and still watch it once in awhile.
--Judy, via e-mail
According to Paul Henning: "I feel as strongly now as I did in the beginning of the show, that it would be a mistake to limit the viewers' imaginations in any way. It's my belief that millions of viewers believe that the Clampetts come directly from their own neck of the woods. That in some measure adds to the enjoyment of the show."
Apparently, then, the state of residence was never revealed, though several nearby towns and communities were mentioned from time to time.
--June Marshall, Chicago, Ill
I'm sure someone has beaten me to my moment in the sun and relayed this answer to you already, but I wanted to make sure you got it.
--Jay Poster, Madison, Wisc.
IZ ZAT SO? "The Ballad of Jed Clampett," a No. 1 C&W hit in 1962 for Flatt & Scruggs, is by far the duo's most famous recording. By the time they recorded the Beverly Hillbillies TV theme, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs had already been performing together for 18 years. Both men met when they teamed as members of Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys in the mid-'40s.