What state did leave it to beaver take place in?

[Karnage]

I know the town that leave it to beaver was from is Mayfeild. However I was wondering what state this show was supposed to have taken place in?

[collins]

Originally posted by Karnage:
I know the town that leave it to beaver was from is Mayfeild. However I was wondering what state this show was supposed to have taken place in?

wisconsin. there are several clues. Madison and Monroe are often mentioned; the W on the pennant in the boys bedroom; crystal falls is in the Michigan penninsula;there is a suburb of milwaukee called mayfield.

[trmoore]

In the episode where they built the eskimo boat, Ward states the ocean is twenty miles away, that would put it on the east or west coast. Since beaver wore his coat a lot it would put it on the north east or north west coast. The letter could have stood for any town. Mayfield represents no known town.

[rjrane]

I think it could be in Ohio.I live in Ohio- and in fact close to Mayfield Heights,Ohio. For years I lived in Shaker Heights,where Ward said he grew up.Whenever I drive down one street in Mayfield Heights,and drive past Mayfield High School,I always remember Wally Cleaver and whistle the Beaver theme to myself.

[scut farkas]

It was Ohio. Euclid Avenue. The Ohio State pennant on Eddie Haskell's bedroom wall. Gotta be Ohio.

[Dobie]

It was filmed in California but I think The Cleavers lived in Ohio I am pretty sure and how I think so is becuase Larry Mondello's father is always in Cincinatti. Its just a guess I have.

[Dobie]

I mean the show was filmed in California but the characters of the show The Cleavers probably lived in Mayfield, Ohio.

[James]

Every time I watch the show I can't help but think Ohio is where it took place. The Cleveland suburbs and Cincinnati (where Larry Mondello's father always was) have always gotten mention. In one episode a girl named Allison moves into Beaver's school, and she said she was from Hamilton, some 30 miles north of Cincinnati.

Then in one episode Wally and his friends mentioned Route 7, which exists in eastern Ohio from Conneaut to Chesapeake (north of Huntington, WV).

[gregg987]

How could the location be Ohio as Ward mentioned the ocean being close to their home?

[sami dg]

In the book The world according to Beaver the author stated that the writers made the location of Mayfield a secret , possibly so this conversation could go on for years.

[Richard]

I wonder if one of the head writers,either Mosher or Connelly,was an Ohioan.That would explain many references.

[lukes42]

Well, I think we can go around and around in circles discussing this topic. I guess its been one of those strange mysteries about the show that has existed since it went off the air. This and what actually Ward's occupation was. Personally, I think the show was based in Ohio, but who really knows.

[Beavs great]

At the beginning of the later episodes, each of the family members run out the front door and get into the car (Ward is carrying a thermos, Wally a beach towel). However, there is no state on the car's rear license plate which is shown very clearly! The episode where Wally gets roped into taking the Beav and his friends camping, it seems there were mountains shown (painted) in the background and Eddy falls off of a clift/ledge. Are there mountains along route 7 in western Ohio? Does anyone remember the name of the lake that they went to?

[lukes42]

You have to remember that the show was taped in California, so the mountains that you see in some of the later episodes are the ones near Los Angeles. I can't remember the name of those mountains right now, but there's a chain that runs close to LA

[lukes42]

The Lake that they most often visit is called Friend's Lake, and I know they visit Crystal Falls early on. I think that's a lake on the show, too.

[Matt Kratoville]

Leave It To Beaver: Where is Mayfield???
I would have to guess strongly that the town of Mayfield is located in the Buckeye State of OHIO! Let's face it! Leave It To Beaver has a strong mid-west flavor to it! Moreover, Larry Mondello's father is constantly going to Cincinnati all the tyme! As for the camping trip that Beaver & Wally and friends went on, I remember taking a trip to some wooded hills just south of Columbus, the State Capital of the Buckeye State! So that's my guess! Call it Mayfield, Ohio, USA! By the way, that's a very pretty dress you're wearing, Mrs. Cleaver!

[lukes42]

As I was watching one of my tapes of the show that I recorded during the marathon weekend, I noticed that in the episode VooDoo Magic, in Eddie Haskell's room was an Ohio State Pennant tacked up on his wall. This is the scene where Beaver visits Eddie, who is faking to be sick in bed, to see how he is and to bring him flowers. Who knows, maybe this is just a coincidence. Anybody else notice this before?

[tdr]

There actually is quite a bit of evidence that the show had Ohio in mind...a very white small town or suburb with middle class and middle American values. Eddie has the OSU pennant in his room, Larry's dad is usually on business in Cincinnati, and Larry says his brother lives in Cincinnati; there actually is a Mayfield and a Shaker Heights near each other in OH.

Sometimes it seems the reason Ward makes the comment that they live 20 miles from the ocean is to deflect too much evidence that they were locating Mayfield in a particular state after all. [No one calls Lake Erie an "ocean," do they?]

I know how silly it can be to try to sort the info and come to a conclusion which is only fictional to begin with; however, the process of elimination shows that Mayfield is:

Not near Cincinnati-- it (Cin.) is referred to as being elsewhere and far enough away for overnight stay.
Not near Los Angeles-- it was a 'long way' from there, said Don Drysdale.
Not on the east coast-- although it may take someone like Aunt Martha to say the Cleaver home "is such an eastern-looking home so far west."
North of Texas-- Wally says "they've got it all [oil] down in Texas."
Not near Washington, DC-- Miss Landers at first took it seriously when Beaver lied and said his dad was "flying to Washington to see the president." [I suppose east coast would include that one anyway]
Not near St. Louis, since Ward had to fly there and stay for a few days on business.

Less definite clues:
Sometimes mountains are shown as being close, but no arid or desert terrain; so not likely AZ, NM, UT, or NV.
No one talks with a southern, an Appalachian, or (except Aunt Martha, a visitor) a New England/NE accent.
Farms are sometimes seen or inferred, but agriculture does not seem to be an important industry to the town; at least not as if it were a small town in Iowa or Nebraska.

The weather implications [jackets and coats] mean nothing except that Mayfield is not in a place which is warm or dry year around, although snow is never seen.

So-- excepting for Ward's "twenty miles from the ocean" citation-- we seem to be given that the location is somewhere within a triangle of Ohio, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Or else-- perhaps *with* the '20 miles from the ocean' quote valid-- in the northwest; Oregon or Washington state.



[This message has been edited by tdr (edited 06-25-2001).]