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 4,769 sq ft (443.1 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 And 2012 onwards, when the series' production shifted entirely to Lorimar Studios (now Sony Pictures Studios) in California. The reunion movies J.R. Returns (1996) and War of the Ewings (1998) returned to the ranch, along with the reunion special Dallas Reunion: 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 retrospective, and not a genuine "episode").
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. Daily tours of the ranch and Ewing Mansion are offered for an admission fee of $13.50+tax for adults. 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.
A memorial service was held at the Southfork Ranch, and a book for fans to sign was set up in the J.R. Ewing room following the death of actor Larry Hagman (who starred as J.R. Ewing) in November 2012.
Read more about this topic: Southfork Ranch
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