Southfork Ranch Dallas Texas

Written by Jeff Heath

"Who shot J.R.?" was a question heard around the world, especially at the Southfork Ranch twenty miles north of Dallas in Parker, Texas. The question was on the minds of millions after a cliffhanger season finale of "Dallas," the nighttime television soap opera, showed J.R. Ewing injured from a gunshot wound and possibly near death. Following this episode, viewers tried to figure out who shot the scheming, unscrupulous and filthy rich J.R. Ewing. For several months "the question" found its way into breakfast, Southfork Ranch Ewing Mansion Dallas Texas

Southfork Ranch Ewing Mansion Dallas Texas

lunch and dinner conversations and helped propel an already successful television show into a blockbuster series that lasted 13 years. Original broadcasts ran from 1978 to 1991 and the series still airs around the globe in syndication. The show has been seen in 96 countries in 43 languages and dialects.

TV Producers Select Dallas Ranch

Lorimar Productions selected Southfork Ranch as the home of the oil-rich "Ewing" family in 1978. The North Texas ranch was built in 1970 as a private residence and a place for breeding and training quarter horses. The ranch appealed to Lorimar Productions because the sprawling acreage would be worthy of a filthy rich Texan family and equally important the mansion showed well on film from every angle. As a result of being Southfork Ranch Ewing Mansion Dallas Texas

selected, Southfork Ranch was brought into the homes of millions of viewers around the world for the show's 356 episodes and has become the most famous ranch in the world. The exterior scenes of the show were typically filmed on Southfork from May through October each year. Like most shows, the interior scenes were filmed in sound studios in California. The original owners of the ranch continued to live at the ranch for a while and attempted to accommodate the increasing demand for tours. Finally the constant activity made it difficult for the owners to live at the ranch and Southfork became strictly a tourist and special event location in 1985.

Southfork Ranch Facilities

Today Southfork Ranch is a popular attraction for tourists and a meeting facility for Southfork Ranch Jock's Living Room

groups of 10 to 10,000. Visitors can tour the famed Ewing Mansion and re-live exciting moments from the series in the Dallas Legends exhibit. Some of the items on display include the gun that shot J.R., Lucy's wedding dress, and Jock's Lincoln Continental. Visitors can also take a guided tram tour of the ranch grounds, eat at Miss Ellie's Deli and shop in two themed retail stores. The meeting facilities at Southfork include 63,000 square feet of indoor event and meeting space, nine ballrooms, and acres of sprawling Texas ranchland. The Southfork Event and Conference Center was named "Facility of the Year" in 1999 by the Dallas / Fort Worth Chapter of Meeting Professionals International.

Southfork Ranch Location

Southfork Ranch is twenty miles north of Dallas and open daily to the public year round. To get to the ranch from Dallas, take I-75 North to Parker Road (Exit #30). Travel east about 5 miles and turn right onto Hogge Road (FM 2551). For additional information call (972)442-7800.