Southfork Ranch

Southfork Ranch as seen in the television series "Dallas".

Southfork Ranch is a conference and event center located in Parker, Texas, U.S., about 25 mi (40 km) north of Dallas; it contains the Ewing Mansion, which was the setting for both Dallas television series — the original that aired from 1978 to 1991 on CBS – and its 2012–2014 continuation on TNT.

History

The house was built in 1970 by Joe Duncan and was known as Duncan Acres, named after his family. The property was originally 200 acres (0.81 km²) in size. The "Mansion" at Southfork Ranch is actually a 5,900 sq ft (550 m²) house with a 957 sq ft (88.9 m²) enclosed garage that was turned into a den/card room.

The ranch appears in the television series Dallas. Exterior shots were filmed on location from 1978 until 1989, though Lorimar Productions also made a studio based mock-up of the ranch's exterior (complete with swimming pool) in California in 1978 for use when the weather made it impractical to film on location in Texas. From 1989, the series' production shifted entirely to the studio based set in California. The reunion movies J.R. Returns (1996) and War of the Ewings (1998) returned to the ranch, along with the non-fiction special The Return to Southfork (2004). War of the Ewings in 1998 was the only time filming was done inside the real ranch for dramatic purposes (Return to Southfork in 2004 was a non-fiction retrospective, and not an episode of the series). From 2012, Southfork was once again used as a filming location for the new Dallas series.

In 1993-94, the ranch was featured prominently in the Little Texas music video "God Blessed Texas".

The ranch is currently an event and conference center, owned by Forever Resorts. It is home to the KLTY-FM radio Christian concert Celebrate Freedom, held annually during the Independence Day celebration, and to the July 4, 2009 "America's Tea Party", which an organizer claimed drew an estimated crowd of 25,000 to 35,000 attendees.

In December 2012, a memorial service was held at the Southfork Ranch following the death of actor Larry Hagman who starred as J.R. Ewing in the series. A memorial book for fans to sign was set up in the "J.R. Ewing room".

Gallery

• SF27.JPG

  Southfork Ranch Main Gate

• SF23.JPG

  Rear view of mansion

• SF12.JPG

  Swimming pool at Southfork

External links

• Southfork Ranch -- Official Site
• Aerial view