What did the Baldwin sisters call their moonshine?
The Baldwin Sisters - or "Baldwin Ladies" - were a pair of spinsters on Walton's Mountain. These women had a big, fancy house. And they made a kind of moonshine – or bootleg whisky - that they called "The Recipe."
Helen Kleeb passed away just shy of her 97th birthday in late December, 2003. Two years later, Mary Jackson died shortly after her 95th birthday in December of 2005.
For the actors who played the Baldwin sisters, Mary Jackson (Miss Emily) and Helen Kleeb (Miss Mamie), they spent the rest of their life refusing to share "the recipe" with fans who stopped them on the street wherever they went to beg for the ingredients list to make their own Baldwin brand moonshine.
As we spoke, I caught myself thinking about Miss Emily Baldwin of Jefferson County, Virginia, one half of the famous Baldwin sisters created by Earl Hamner. As explained by Earl Hamner: “Down on Route 6 between Esmont and Scottsville lived two ladies who made an elixir they referred to as their Papa's Recipe.
The Baldwin sister's car was a 1925 Studebaker.
Mamie Baldwin
The older of the Baldwin sisters, a pair of relatively well-off elderly spinster Southern belles, Mamie (pilot, Josephine Hutchinson; series, Helen Kleeb) is more sensible and grounded than her sister Emily.
While the television series took place on a fictional "Walton's Mountain," in Virginia, and the book on "Spencer's Mountain" in Wyoming, both are actually based on Hamner's hometown of Schuyler, VA. Consequently, it should come as no surprise that the Walton's Mountain Museum is located right here in Schuyler, VA.
Costars Allen and Thomas developed their deep romance during filming. In fact, it was likely due to their relationship that, months later, The Waltons cast Allen to play John-Boy's romantic interest in "The Love Story," an episode that aired late in the first season.
The final episode, titled “The Revel,” aired on June 4, 1981. In the episode, John-Boy goes to New York to pursue his writing career but arrives to find that his manuscript has been rejected. His publisher's secretary gives him enough money to return home and advises him to start a new book. He returned home dejected.
Andrew Duggan (John Walton) 1988 at age 64 of throat cancer in Westwood, CA. Edgar Bergen (Grandpa) 1978 age 75 of a heart attack in Las Vegas, NV. Ellen Corby (Grandma) 1999 age 87 natural causes in Woodland Hills, CA. Dorothy Stickney (Miss Emily) 1998 age 101 at her home in NYC.
Is the house from The Waltons still standing?
The original house that served as the backdrop to Hamner's childhood was built in the early 20th century in the village of Schuyler in Nelson County, where it still stands today.
The Baldwin sisters were loosely based on a mother-daughter duo that was well-known in Hamner's family because “they had a love of alcohol.” Hamner changed the relationship, gave them sweet personalities and made them a bit loftier and more elegant than their down-home, real-life counterparts.
The main story is set in Walton's Mountain, a fictional mountain community in the fictitious Jefferson County, Virginia. The real place upon which the stories are based is the community of Schuyler in Nelson County, Virginia.
The house is located at 128 Tree Top Loop, Schuyler, Virginia 22969.
While filmed on location in California, the fictional Walton family would have been at home in the tiny town of about 300 residents 40 minutes southwest of Charlottesville, Va., in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Michael Learned didn't like TV acting
The show indicates that she's being treated for tuberculosis in Arizona, but Learned didn't return to Walton's Mountain until the reunion films.
They tied the knot in real life in nuptials officiated by Walton dad Ralph Waite, a minister in real life. “He took it very seriously and did a really terrific ceremony,” Walmsley said.
Learned told the Daily Mail they decided not to pursue the romance as it could ruin the hit series and “get messy.” Instead, Learned insisted they cherished a close friendship that lasted until Waite's death in 2014 at age 85.
Winston effectively retired as an actress in 1993, partly because of a broken elbow which incapacitated her for a year but mainly because she started a family and wished to devote her time to raising her two daughters.
A stroke in 1977 forced Ms. Corby to curtail her work on the series. She was seen only occasionally and made her last appearance in 1979, although she was part of the 1997 special ''A Waltons Easter.
Why did Michael Learned leave the Waltons?
Michael Learned didn't like TV acting
The show indicates that she's being treated for tuberculosis in Arizona, but Learned didn't return to Walton's Mountain until the reunion films.
Andrew Duggan (John Walton) 1988 at age 64 of throat cancer in Westwood, CA. Edgar Bergen (Grandpa) 1978 age 75 of a heart attack in Las Vegas, NV. Ellen Corby (Grandma) 1999 age 87 natural causes in Woodland Hills, CA. Dorothy Stickney (Miss Emily) 1998 age 101 at her home in NYC.
They now have two children, Katie and Clay, and no explanation is made as to whether medical advances made this possible, the children are adopted, or if Mary Ellen and Jonesy decided to risk it and she was fine during the first pregnancy so they had a second child together.
Then Curt was killed at Pearl Harbor in the 1978 season, and Mary Ellen found new love with Arlington Wescott "Jonesy" Jones (Richard Gililand) while taking premed courses. The romance was threatened when Curt was discovered not to have died after all, but the two decided their marriage had ended and divorced.
They tied the knot in real life in nuptials officiated by Walton dad Ralph Waite, a minister in real life. “He took it very seriously and did a really terrific ceremony,” Walmsley said.
