Before 2008, you may not have heard of Tontitown, AR. But once 19 Kids and Counting premiered and the Duggars became a household name, so did this small town in the Ozark Mountains. Family patriarch Jim Bob Duggar makes his living off commercial real estate, and business must be booming considering how many mouths he and wife Michelle have to feed.
As fans know, six of the Duggar kids have left the nest: Josh lives with his wife Anna, Jill lives with her husband Derick, Jessa lives with her husband Ben, Jinger lives with her husband Jeremy, Joy-Anna lives with her husband Austin, and Joseph lives with his wife Kendra.
The Duggars’ young kids and their unmarried adult children still live at the family compound. If you’re keeping score at home, that includes Jana, John-David, Josiah, Jedidiah, Jeremiah, Jason, James, Justin, Jackson, Johannah, Jennifer, Jordyn-Grace, and Josie. Given that Josie is only 8 years old, Michelle and Jim Bob won’t be empty-nesters for at least another decade.
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But, what’s it like for the other Tontitown residents who live alongside the crazy big clan? We got a sense a while back when a neighbor of the Duggars participated in a Reddit AMA under the username blakerz25.
“There is definitely a [mix] of emotions,” the neighbor revealed. “Most of the community doesn’t really make a big deal about their massive family, but of course there [are] a lot of people from surrounding towns questioning why they did it and such. Everyone on the street likes them, for the most part. [Their] house isn’t the prettiest thing (looks like a small office building), but they keep their lawn nice and their gravel driveway tidy.”
blakerz25 said the Duggars seem relatively normal, and the townspeople treat them as such: “Before the show aired, people here definitely knew of the Duggars but only a select few knew them personally. They’re really involved in their church, so many of their relations are made there. They don’t brag and flaunt their success about being a large family and they go out in public around here like to the grocery store and stuff like [it’s] not [a] big deal. No one who actually lives in our small town really freaks out if they see a Duggar.”
Of course, one user had to ask, “They don’t sell condoms in Tontitown?” blakerz25 jokingly replied, “Extinct back in 1985.” (At least, we think it was a joke.)
