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Dogpatch was the fictional setting of
cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...
Al Capp Alfred Gerald Caplin (September 28, 1909 – November 5, 1979), better known as Al Capp, was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip ''Li'l Abner'', which he created in 1934 and continued writing and (w ...
's classic
comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...
''
Li'l Abner ''Li'l Abner'' was a satirical American comic strip that appeared in multiple newspapers in the United States, Canada, and Europe. It featured a fictional clan of hillbillies living in the impoverished fictional mountain village of Dogpatch, ...
'' (1934–1977).


''Li'l Abner'' comic strip

The inhabitants of Dogpatch were mostly lazy hillbillies, who usually wanted nothing to do with progress. ''Li'l Abner'' backwater hometown chiefly consisted of dismal
log cabin A log cabin is a small log house, especially a minimally finished or less architecturally sophisticated structure. Log cabins have an ancient history in Europe, and in America are often associated with first-generation home building by settl ...
hovels, pine trees, "tarnip" fields and hog wallows—and was often referred to by its inhabitants and outsiders as being the most miserable and unnecessary place on earth. The menfolk were too lazy to work, yet Dogpatch gals were desperate enough to chase them (see Sadie Hawkins Day). Those who farmed their turnip fields watched turnip termites swarm by the billions once a year, locust-like, to devour Dogpatch's only crop (along with their livestock and all their clothing). Al Capp used to joke that Dogpatch was based on
Seabrook, New Hampshire Seabrook is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 8,401 at the 2020 census. Located at the southern end of the coast of New Hampshire, on the border with Massachusetts, Seabrook is noted as the location of ...
, where he would vacation with his wife, Catherine. A map shown during the story arc of the Shmoo seems to place Dogpatch somewhere around
Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...
or
Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...
. However, one of the earliest (1934) ''Li'l Abner'' strips, re-posted on the web by Comics.com in March 2008, explicitly identifies Dogpatch as being in
Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
and several 1936 strips also clearly place it in Kentucky. One 1936 strip furthermore mentions that Lee City (a small town in eastern Kentucky) is just over away. The local geography was fluid and vividly complex; Capp continually changed it to suit either his whims or the current storyline. It has been variously situated in a deep valley, at the base of a peak that's precariously balancing an enormous boulder (Teeterin' Rock), or atop Onnecessary Mountain overlooking an apparently infinite chasm, Bottomless Canyon. It was usually described as situated between the equally fictitious towns of Skonk Hollow (inhabited by lethally dangerous, even more backward mountaineers) and Pineapple Junction. Like the
Coconino County Coconino County is a County (United States), county in the North Central Arizona, North-Central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. Its population was 145,101 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The county seat is Flagstaff, Arizon ...
depicted in
George Herriman George Joseph Herriman III (August 22, 1880 – April 25, 1944) was an American cartoonist best known for the comic strip ''Krazy Kat'' (1913–1944). More influential than popular, ''Krazy Kat'' had an appreciative audience a ...
's ''
Krazy Kat ''Krazy Kat'' (also known as ''Krazy & Ignatz'' in some reprints and compilations) is an US, American newspaper comic strip, created by cartoonist George Herriman, which ran from 1913 to 1944. It first appeared in the ''New York Journal-America ...
'' and the
Okefenokee Swamp The Okefenokee Swamp is a shallow, 438,000-acre (177,000 ha), peat-filled wetland straddling the Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia–Florida line in the United States. A majority of the swamp is protected by the Okefenokee National Wildlife Ref ...
of
Walt Kelly Walter Crawford Kelly Jr. (August 25, 1913 – October 18, 1973) was an American animator and cartoonist, best known for the comic strip ''Pogo (comic strip), Pogo''. He began his animation career in 1936 at The Walt Disney Company, Walt Disney S ...
's '' Pogo'', Dogpatch's (and Lower Slobbovia's) distinctive cartoon landscape became as identified with the strip as any of its characters. Local Dogpatch institutions included West Po'kchop Railroad, which ran perpendicularly up one side of Onnecessary Mountain and straight down the other. A stiffnecked industrialist named Stubborn J. Tolliver built its suicidal grade to satisfy a boyish dream of his son, Idiot J. Tolliver. To keep his boy happy, Tolliver starts one train a week up the tracks. Each train falls back with a crash, killing all its passengers. Another daily hazard, the Skonk Works, was almost as lethal. Scores have been done in by the fumes of the concentrated "skonk" oil which is brewed and barreled at the factory by its owner and "inside man", Big Barnsmell; and his cousin, "outside man" Barney Barnsmell (see also
Skunk Works Skunk Works is an official pseudonym for Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs (ADP), formerly called Lockheed Advanced Development Projects. It is responsible for a number of aircraft designs, highly classified research and developme ...
). Mail was very slow, with the ancient, white-bearded postmaster and his creaky jackass mount (Young Eddie McSkonk and U.S. Mule) often feeling too stressed to deliver the cobweb-covered sacks of timeworn letters marked "Rush" at the Dogpatch Express post office. Dogpatch's various feature attractions also included Kissin' Rock (handy to Suicide Cliff), the Jubilation T. Cornpone memorial statue, and Dogpatch Airlines, with decrepit
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they a ...
Cap'n Eddie Ricketyback, proprietor (a pun on
Eddie Rickenbacker Edward Vernon Rickenbacker (born Edward Rickenbacher, October 8, 1890 – July 23, 1973) was an American fighter pilot in World War I and a Medal of Honor recipient.theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...
called
Dogpatch USA Dogpatch USA was a theme park located in northwest Arkansas along Arkansas State Highway 7, State Highway 7 between the cities of Harrison, Arkansas, Harrison and Jasper, Arkansas, Jasper, an area known today as Marble Falls, Arkansas, Marble ...
in Marble Falls near
Harrison, Arkansas The city of Harrison is the county seat of Boone County, Arkansas, United States. It is named after Marcus LaRue Harrison, a surveyor who laid out the city along Crooked Creek (Arkansas), Crooked Creek at Stifler Springs. According to 2019 Cen ...
, based on the comic strip's setting and featuring a trout farm,
carriage A carriage is a two- or four-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle for passengers. In Europe they were a common mode of transport for the wealthy during the Roman Empire, and then again from around 1600 until they were replaced by the motor car around 1 ...
and horseback rides, entertainment by characters from the
Li'l Abner ''Li'l Abner'' was a satirical American comic strip that appeared in multiple newspapers in the United States, Canada, and Europe. It featured a fictional clan of hillbillies living in the impoverished fictional mountain village of Dogpatch, ...
comic strip, and eventually
amusement rides Amusement rides, sometimes called carnival rides, are mechanical devices or structures that move people to create fun and enjoyment. Rides are often perceived by many as being scary or more dangerous than they actually are. This could be due to ...
. Opening in 1968, the park had 300,000 visitors in its first year. The park closed in 1993 due to mismanagement and financial debt. It had been scheduled to reopen as
Heritage USA Heritage USA was an American Christian-themed water park, theme park and residential complex in Fort Mill, South Carolina, built by televangelist Jim Bakker and his wife Tammy Faye Messner, Tammy Faye Bakker, founders of ''The PTL Club''. The ...
Ozarks Resort in 2020, but in 2020 it was sold to
Bass Pro Shops BPS Direct, LLC, trade name, doing business as Bass Pro Shops, is an American privately held sporting goods retailer that offers hunting, fishing, camping, and other related outdoor recreation equipment, marine manufacturing and sales, and outd ...
founder Johnny Morris for $1.12 million, to become "a nature experience for future generations to enjoy." Morris is reportedly interested in "restoration of the large natural spring and bringing back to life the renowned trout hatchery and many future
fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...
opportunities."


Other uses

* U.S. Army and
Marine Corps Marines (or naval infantry) are military personnel generally trained to operate on both land and sea, with a particular focus on amphibious warfare. Historically, the main tasks undertaken by marines have included raiding ashore (often in supp ...
units in Vietnam during the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
often called their housing compounds "Dogpatches", due to the primitive conditions. *The term was used by American chemical engineers such as William J. Wilcox, Jr. and Warren Fuchs, during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
who were working on the
Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development program undertaken during World War II to produce the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States in collaboration with the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the ...
; the engineers used the term from the comic strip to describe their first Rochester dormitories, with dark and dismal furniture and used beds from an old YMCA, and kept using the term when they transferred to
Oak Ridge, Tennessee Oak Ridge is a city in Anderson County, Tennessee, Anderson and Roane County, Tennessee, Roane counties in the East Tennessee, eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee, about west of downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, Knoxville. Oak Ridge's po ...
. * 47th Fighter Squadron is known as the DogPatchers, and their
A-10C The Fairchild Republic A-10 , also infamously known under the nickname , is a single-seat, twinjet, twin-turbofan, straight wing, straight-wing, Subsonic aircraft, subsonic attack aircraft developed by Fairchild Aircraft, Fairchild Republic ...
aircraft are named after the characters from ''Li'l Abner''. Each airplane has artwork depicting these characters located on the inside of the boarding ladder door. *Dogpatch is also the name of a restaurant in
Munising, Michigan Munising ( ') is a city in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Alger County, Michigan. The population was 1,986 at the 2020 census. The city is partially surrounded by Munising Township, but the two are a ...
, United States. *Various cities and towns have neighborhoods, often lower social class, nicknamed "Dogpatch" in reference to the comic strip's locale, including ** Marble Falls, Arkansas ** Dogpatch, San Francisco ** Dog Patch, West Virginia **
Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...
**
Greater Sudbury Sudbury, officially the City of Greater Sudbury, is the largest city in Northern Ontario by population, with a population of 166,004 at the 2021 Canadian Census. By land area, it is the largest in Ontario and the List of the largest cities and t ...
**
Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...


References

{{Li'l Abner Fictional elements introduced in 1934 Fictional populated places in the United States Fictional locations in comics Li'l Abner Fictional populated places in Kentucky 1934 in comics