Guest ranch

The guest ranch, also known as a dude ranch, is a type of ranch oriented towards visitors or tourism. It is considered a form of agritourism.

History

Guest ranches arose in response to the romanticization of the American West that began to occur in the late 19th century. In 1893, historian Frederick Jackson Turner stated that the United States frontier was demographically "closed". This in turn led many people to have feelings of nostalgia for bygone days, but also, given that the risks of a true frontier were gone, allowed for nostalgia to be indulged in relative safety. Thus, the person referred to as a "tenderfoot" or a "greenhorn" by westerners was finally able to visit and enjoy the advantages of western life for a short period of time without needing to risk life and limb.

The Western adventures of famous figures, like Theodore Roosevelt, were made available to paying guests from cities of the East, called "dudes" in the West. In the early years, the transcontinental railroad network brought paying visitors to a local depot, where a wagon or buggy would be waiting to transport people to a ranch. Experiences varied. Some guest ranch visitors expected a somewhat edited and more luxurious version of the "cowboy life", while others were more tolerant of the odors and timetable of a working ranch. While there were guest ranches prior to the 20th century, the trend grew considerably after the end of World War I, when postwar prosperity, the invention of the automobile and the appearance of Western movies all increased popular interest in the west. In 1926 the Dude Ranchers Association was founded in Cody, Wyoming to represent the needs of this rapidly growing industry.

Dude ranch (disambiguation)

Dude ranch may refer to:

Dude Ranch (Modern Family)

"Dude Ranch" is the third season premiere of the American sitcom Modern Family and the 49th episode overall. The episode originally aired on September 21, 2011 on American Broadcasting Company (ABC) and ran back-to-back with "When Good Kids Go Bad". The episode was written by Paul Corrigan, Brad Walsh & Dan O'Shannon and directed by Jason Winer.

"Dude Ranch" features guest stars Tim Blake Nelson as Hank and Reid Ewing as Dylan. Serving as the first part of the one-hour season premiere, the episode revolves around the three families traveling to a dude ranch.

"Dude Ranch" received positive reviews from critics with many praising Nolan Gould's performance as Luke Dunphy, with Alan Sepinwall calling him the MVP of the episode. The episode was viewed by more than 14.54 million viewers and received a 6.1 rating/15% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, marking an 18-percent rise from the second season premiere, "The Old Wagon". The episode also became the highest-rated and most viewed episode of the series. It also ranked as the highest-rated ABC series for the week of broadcast and fourth overall.