TDW 1783 - Visiting The Real Walton's Mountain

0:03 Off on the horizon, deep buried in those

0:03 hills, is the stomping grounds of Earl

0:06 Hamner Jr., the creator of one of the

0:08 most popular TV shows of all time in the

0:12 1970s. There wasn't very many people who

0:15 did not tune in to

0:17 watch The

0:28 Waltons. I don't know if I'm pointing at

0:28 the right spot. It's somewhere. It's

0:29 somewhere over there. I got I got a

0:31 little bit of a waste, but it's

0:31 somewhere It's somewhere in that area.

0:33 Welcome everyone. Adam the Woo here. The

0:37 episodes were not filmed here in the

0:39 hills of Virginia. However, that was out

0:41 in Hollywood. A little movie magic if

0:43 you will on the back lot in the

0:45 soundstages in Burbank at Warner

0:47 Brothers Studio. But the inspiration,

0:50 the nooks and crannies, the peppering in

0:53 of tidbits from this region can all be

0:57 found up there on that cliff. I don't

0:59 know if it's a cliff. It's It's up there

1:01 up the road just a bit. I'm going to

1:03 dive in. See what I can see what I can

1:06 find. It's my second channel, daily vlog

1:08 channel.

1:10 It's I need more I need more smarts in

1:13 my

1:14 life. It's the daily. Woo. Set in the

1:17 time frame of the 30s and 40s, the story

1:20 followed John Boy, who was the oldest of

1:21 seven kids, his parents, grandparents,

1:24 and the other cast of characters in

1:26 town. Fun fact, Richard Thomas did not

1:29 narrate the show, but it was actually

1:31 the writer and originator that did the

1:33 actual voice of John Boy. As much as I

1:36 enjoy the show, and while it is one of

1:38 the most iconic classic TV shows ever,

1:41 what makes this visit extra specially

1:43 cool is that it is one of my mom's

1:46 favorites as well. Growing up, I

1:48 remember watching a lot of the episodes

1:49 with her and then later in life, the

1:51 reruns. So, this makes it a little bit

1:53 more heartfelt going here up to

1:56 Walton's. I'm actually going to Walton's

1:59 mountain now. I can't be for certain Big

2:01 the Foot because I have lost cell phone

2:03 signal.

2:05 But my senses are telling me that this

2:08 might possibly be the right

2:11 area. Very similar type of houses. I'm

2:17 thinking we're in the right direction.

2:19 Well, it's official. My RV has now

2:23 sticks here stick. There's

2:24 sticks. Large. Oh, there's a hole there.

2:31 Damned. What I was trying to say is my

2:31 RV is now parked on sacred pop culture,

2:36 television,

2:38 history,

2:39 soil. I've

2:41 arrived. I have a hound in my

2:45 cheek, too. These things. I shouldn't I

2:47 should have probably taken it out before

2:48 I started talking. My apologies. There's

2:51 the post office. Tiny tiny little

2:54 community.

2:56 It's incredible that the birds are

2:57 chirping. Almost as if they planned it

3:00 that way. Almost like a producer or

3:02 director said, "Okay, he's here. Birds,

3:05 start chirping." Behind me is the

3:07 location of the general store that was

3:09 used as the inspiration from the show.

3:12 The old one burned down. They have

3:14 rebuilt one in its place. Right next

3:17 door in real life, just like in the

3:19 episodes, right in front of the

3:23 actual home. Shunka gunk gunk. That's

3:28 it. The Walton's house. It's quite the

3:32 feeling to be standing

3:34 here. This is where he grew up. It looks

3:38 eerily similar to its recreated

3:42 counterpart in

3:48 California. Those windows up there. Good

3:48 night, John

3:50 Boy. Good night, Mary Ellen. ring a

3:53 bell. If you've seen the show, you know

3:55 exactly what I'm talking about. He

3:58 passed away a couple years ago, but

4:00 that's him standing in front of his home

4:02 and there he is with his pen in hand

4:06 doing some writing from up in the

4:07 window. It's true. Very true. I have

4:10 stepped into

4:12 nostalgia

4:14 overload at the moment. Holding in my

4:18 hands now is the key. I was given the

4:22 key to the front

4:40 in. Oh my

4:40 goodness. No

4:43 freaking way.

4:59 I am

4:59 in the kitchen. The actual

5:02 kitchen. The What is is happening right

5:06 now?

5:08 If it seems like I'm geeking out a

5:10 little bit. If it appears that

5:13 way to you guys, it's because in all

5:17 reality, I totally am geeking out big

5:23 time. This is where he and his family

5:26 lived. All his brothers and sisters,

5:28 mom, dad, the whole

5:32 crew. I can't believe I'm walking around

5:35 in here completely alone. The life and

5:38 times of that family, the trials and

5:41 tribulations were all written, pinned

5:43 and thought and originated and created

5:46 in his mind looking out this window in

5:51 this spot. Let that sink in for a

5:54 second. And if you have ever watched it,

5:57 read the books, seen the movies, if it

6:00 is a part of your

6:02 life, this is where it started. Right

6:05 here. Right in this room. The good old

6:30 flowing. I I can picture it. I can see

6:30 it totally. Now, don't quote me on this,

6:33 but I think this was his real

6:37 family, the real life Walton. Well, the

6:40 inspiration for the Waltons in real

6:43 life. There's a few old books in here.

6:46 Oh, there we go. There's another one

6:48 that he authored. And I never even seen

6:52 this

7:13 Whoa. Little paper cutouts.

7:13 Aaron, Ben, Elizabeth, Mary, Ellen,

7:19 Jason, John Boy, Jim Bob. You can put

7:23 clothes on

7:30 them. This is quite the

7:30 experience. Just letting

7:33 it settle

7:35 in. I really like

7:43 this. I really do.

7:43 I never thought the day would come that

7:44 I would get to walk around, wander

7:46 around inside that house. That was

7:49 amazing. In the show, John Boy's

7:53 writings were done in a shed was the

7:55 inspiration that this store, well, the

7:58 former store that burned down served.

8:01 So, in the show, he walked down to the

8:03 shed, but in reality, it's the store. No

8:06 photographs allowed inside, but I'll buy

8:08 a few things and show you. One of them

8:10 being this postcard of the family's

8:12 church. That's what it looked like then.

8:15 This is what it looks like now. And the

8:18 house on the Warner Brothers back lot.

8:20 There were two of them. One of them

8:21 burned down. I'm not sure if this is the

8:22 first or the second one. They both look

8:24 very

8:25 similar. This is what the real one looks

8:28 like. This is what the recreated one

8:31 looks like. As well as an episode guide

8:34 from 72 to 81. first season starting in

8:38 72 going all the way through the ninth

8:41 season in 81 and then there was a few

8:44 movies and TV specials leading all the

8:47 way up to 1997 and the show was based on

8:50 I think it was a pilot or maybe a movie

8:52 Christmas with the Waltons. I can't

8:54 remember the name of it exactly but it's

8:55 basically the Waltons around Christmas

8:58 time. It was so popular that they

9:00 created the show after it. Of course,

9:02 the floor plan of the real house

9:04 differed considerably from the interior

9:07 floor plan on the sound stage as well as

9:10 the exteriors and facades on the back

9:14 lot. And just up the hill a bit is this

9:17 the mountain

9:20 museum and they're open. Heck yeah.

9:23 About a month ago was the 45th

9:25 anniversary. I was watching some videos

9:27 online and at that event they planted

9:31 this tree and the entire cast or at

9:33 least the ones who decided to come out

9:35 to it were here in dedication of this

9:38 newly planted tree. You can still see

9:41 how it's freshly planted in the ground.

9:43 This building used to be the Skyler

9:45 Elementary School. I thought it was

9:47 pronounced Schuler, but in fact it is

9:50 Skyler, just spelled a little

9:52 differently. It appears grandpa was a

9:54 Pepsi man and he enjoyed himself aby. I

9:58 really liked the character that played

10:00 the guy that played Grandpa. He was

10:02 great. And they have recreated sets and

10:05 areas. Each of the classrooms is now

10:09 dedicated to each character from the

10:12 show itself. They have expressed the

10:15 fact that his room really did not have

10:17 air conditioning. But as stated on that

10:19 sign, it gets really hot in here. and

10:22 they they want to stay cool. So, I can't

10:23 blame them because Virginia does get

10:26 very humid at times. Some past TV

10:29 guides, some vinyl records, a board

10:32 game. Look at this down here. I never

10:35 even knew that existed. Oh, that's neat,

10:38 too. A reserve sign back when they were

10:42 filming it. And some dolls. Some Barbie

10:45 doll type items.

10:49 All kind of stuff in here before it

10:51 burned down. That's what the store

10:52 looked like. Sneeed's store, the basis

10:55 for Ike Godsy's general merchandise

10:58 store. In fact, they've recreated that

11:01 inside this room as well. As I recall,

11:04 his wife never was really in a very good

11:07 mood. If this was available for sale, I

11:10 think I would probably buy it, but I

11:12 think it's just I think it's just for

11:14 display purposes only. Let's step inside

11:18 the living room

11:20 now. Oh

11:22 yeah. It feels like it feels like I'm in

11:26 the show itself. I keep expecting one of

11:29 them to walk through that door. And into

11:31 another room

11:33 stands the kitchen. Lots and lots of

11:37 scenes

11:39 utilized this type of area. In fact,

11:42 they have one of the crab dollies that

11:46 was used to

11:48 film

11:49 182

11:51 episodes. That's

11:54 cool. A little

11:56 history from California dragged all the

11:59 way out here in the hills of Virginia.

12:02 Look closely. You can see a teeter

12:04 totter down there in the left corner in

12:08 front of the home. And here's another

12:10 paper house. They've recreated it in

12:14 lots of different fashions, including

12:17 this one, which is really detailed with

12:20 the tree and the tire dangling

12:23 there, and the barn, the

12:26 shed next to the house. This is pretty

12:29 incredible. These are some photos taken

12:31 back in the day of that's the barn

12:33 revealed. That's what the interiors

12:36 really look like to the house before the

12:40 fire. I'm not sure what year this is,

12:43 but there it is right

12:45 there on Warner Brothers back lot. And

12:48 that's behind the house. The the side

12:51 you never see. The vibe of this place is

12:53 really cool. The fact that they just

12:55 take the heads of the characters and

12:58 tape them on the wall like this. You can

13:02 stand next to each one of the actors

13:05 faces. See how you measure up

13:07 heightwise. This is how tall in real

13:09 life they really were. The tallest being

13:11 Grandpa. I'm 6'3, so he was probably

13:15 6'4 or so, but he he towered over

13:18 everyone else. Judging by those framed

13:20 photos over there on the end table, I

13:23 think this is the residence of the

13:24 Baldwin sisters. They're up to no good.

13:27 They're back at their moonshining recipe

13:30 ways. A few years ago when I was going

13:31 to Disneyland pretty often, I mentioned

13:34 and it was under a little bit of

13:35 scrutiny if it was true or false, but

13:38 John Walmsley, who played Jason Walton,

13:40 the second oldest son, always played the

13:42 guitar on the show. I said I thought it

13:46 was rumored that he was part of the

13:48 pirate band at Disneyland. I could never

13:50 really find hardcore confirmation. I

13:53 talked to him about he never broke

13:54 character. You never broke the pirate

13:57 character, but I think I've

13:59 confirmed. Check this out. Look at

14:03 this. John Walmsley with the

14:07 bootstrappers

14:08 2012 right

14:11 there.

14:13 Oh, I was

14:15 right. I was right. The gentleman at the

14:18 general store told me to drive down this

14:21 road a ways. He said there's a dam up

14:24 here. Oh, yeah. Right over here to the

14:27 right. Check this out. A little

14:29 waterfall

14:36 area. He was telling me that Earl his

14:36 ashes or at least some of his ashes when

14:39 he passed away last year or maybe two

14:42 years ago were scattered right there in

14:45 the waterway.

14:47 some of them there and some of them in

14:49 the private family cemetery which is off

14:52 limits to the public. There are two

14:55 church buildings in town. The most

14:58 aesthetically incredible looking one is

15:01 this one overgrown with ivy. But the one

15:04 down here on the bottom of the hill, if

15:06 we look at its television counterpart,

15:09 you'll be interested to know that John

15:12 Ritter, prior to Thre's Company, was the

15:15 minister on the television program based

15:19 on this church. I love John Ritter, so I

15:22 had to mention that. At this point, I'm

15:24 kind of just driving around randomly. I

15:27 don't have cell phone service. Trying to

15:30 find another

15:32 spot. I don't know if I'm going the

15:35 right way. Crossing my fingers and

15:38 just just heading straight down this

15:40 road. Since I was slightly lost, I

15:43 pulled over and asked two guys who were

15:44 working on their truck in their yard if

15:46 they knew where this structure where

15:48 this building stood. Their answer, and I

15:50 am paraphrasing, extremely paraphrasing,

15:52 was, "What are you doing here?"

15:56 Nevertheless, I have found the tracks at

15:58 Rockfish that John Boyy's

16:01 narration talked about on many, many

16:04 occasions. This is the post office.

16:07 Opened in

16:08 1914, closed in

16:23 history. There's even a book right up

16:23 there on the ledge.

16:26 I found it. This is a

16:28 toughy. I found

16:30 it. I don't know how, but I found it.

16:33 The door is locked, but you can peek in

16:35 the window. You can see the desk and the

16:37 old iron kettle pot there on the stove.

16:40 The photo on this postcard, I think, was

16:42 taken in

16:43 1985. Pretty much still looks the same

16:47 today. I'm glad to still stand. I was

16:50 kind of worried that it had been

16:52 removed. And on the door itself is a

16:54 mail slot. I wonder if he came up here

16:57 and tossed any letters in there. He

16:59 probably did. It's pretty neat to think

17:01 about. I really enjoyed this. Not only

17:03 did it bring back a heck of a lot of

17:05 memories, but I learned a lot of new

17:07 things that I saw things I had never

17:09 seen before. I think the best way to end

17:11 this vlog is with some majestic drone

17:13 shots of the real life Walton's

17:16 Mountain.

17:37 D

17:39 vlog Over.

TDW 1783 - Visiting The Real Walton's Mountain

Transcript