Li'l Abner's backwater hometown chiefly consisted of dismal log cabin 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.
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.
Like the Coconino County depicted in George Herriman's Krazy Kat and the Okefenokee Swamp of Walt Kelly's Pogo, Dogpatch's (and Lower Slobbovia's) distinctive cartoon landscape became as identified with the strip as any of its characters.
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.
It had been scheduled to reopen as Heritage USA Ozarks Resort in 2020,[4] but in 2020 it was sold to Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris for $1.12 million, to become "a nature experience for future generations to enjoy."