Harvelle's Roadhouse

Harvelle's Roadhouse in 2.03 Bloodlust (episode).

Ellen and Jo Harvelle in 2.02 Everybody Loves a Clown

• First seen in 2.02 Everybody Loves a Clown (episode)
• Last seen in 2.22 All Hell Breaks Loose: Part Two (episode) after it is destroyed by demons.
• Seen in 5.16 Dark Side Of The Moon, the roadhouse is Ash's version of Heaven.

The Road House was a structure owned and managed by Ellen and Jo Harvelle, and was a saloon named after Ellen's deceased husband Bill Harvelle. It was frequented a lot by Hunters including Ash who was also a permanent fixture here. This base was later destroyed by a nest of demons. Some of the interior of the Road House appeared in Ash's personal Heaven in 5.16 Dark Side Of The Moon.

Judging by the tourists in 2.06 No Exit (episode), it was originally deduced that the Roadhouse is located somewhere in Nebraska or in one of its neighboring states. This is true; on the Road So Far map distributed by the official Supernatural Magazine, it shows Harvelle's Roadhouse in central Nebraska.

Hunters we know who frequent - or have at some time frequented - the Roadhouse include:

• John Winchester
• Sam Winchester
• Dean Winchester
• Bobby Singer
• Gordon Walker
• Caleb
• Rick
• Shawn
• Danny (according to Jo's Journal, was replaced by Ash (aka 'Miles' in Jo's Journal))
• Jake Reilly

Some of these hunters appear to have Hunter's Blogs.

We know from Gordon in Hunted that someone from the Roadhouse passed on information about Sam's psychic abilities.

The word 'Harvelle' is an Old English girls' name, meaning "soldier" or "warrior".

Why the Roadhouse had to go

In the Season 2 Companion Eric Kripke talks about how the Roadhouse and its inhabitants were included in the storyline to give the boys a place to go to, to gather information, a kind of way-station, a wish from TPTB. Over the course of the season though, the Supernatural team figured that it didn't work out:

"What we realized is that this series is so much about the road trip. Giving them a place to go runs counter to that and really changes the tone in a way you don't want." – Eric Kripke, S2Com, p. 16

Links

• April, 2007 Behind the scenes Set design details

Roadhouse Fanworks

• LJ Community: spn_roadhouse
• The Roadhouse community on LJ has a weekly fic-roundup. To view all roundups, click here
• The Family Business is a site about Ellen and Jo.