Keeping Hazzard County running
Ben Jones spent seven seasons fixing cars and helping the Duke family as Cooter Davenport on The Dukes of Hazzard. After the series ended, he carried Hazzard County into Congress, two reunion movies and a network of museums for the people who kept watching.
Ben Jones welcomes visitors to Cooter’s Place and its Dukes of Hazzard museum in Nashville.
Friday nights in Hazzard County
Growing up in the 1980s, The Dukes of Hazzard was a mainstay in our house. Each week brought another chase across Hazzard County and another problem for the Duke family to solve.
CBS premiered the series on Jan. 26, 1979, in the Friday 9 p.m. time slot. The network later moved it to 8 p.m., where it led into Dallas. The show ran for seven seasons and ended on Feb. 8, 1985.
Our family watched Bo, Luke, Daisy and Uncle Jesse outmaneuver Boss Hogg and Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane. We even stayed through the Coy and Vance episodes of season five, which I still think of as the fake Duke boy era.
Jones played the local mechanic who could repair almost anything the Duke boys damaged. Early episodes presented “Crazy Cooter” as a wild driver who sometimes created as much trouble as he fixed. Jones soon settled the character into his lasting role as the Dukes’ reliable friend and the man who kept the General Lee running.
Jones followed the series with an unusual move from Hazzard County to Capitol Hill. Georgia voters elected him to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1988. He represented the state’s 4th Congressional District for two terms from 1989 through 1993.
He later returned to acting with roles in Primary Colors, Sliders and other productions. He rejoined his former castmates for The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion! in 1997 and The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood in 2000. The first reunion borrowed from Jones’s life and sent Cooter to Congress.
Over the years, I have met several members of the cast, including John Schneider. Schneider later established a film studio in Holden, Louisiana, not far from my home in Hammond. Those encounters brought a television favorite from my childhood into my own part of Louisiana.
The door of Cooter Davenport’s Hazzard County tow truck recalls the mechanic who kept the General Lee running.
Keeping the doors open
Jones and his wife, Alma Viator, opened the first Cooter’s Place in Sperryville, Virginia, in 1999. The concept eventually expanded into locations in Nashville, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and Luray, Virginia.
Cooter’s Place gave the series a permanent address after it left network television. Jones also used the museums for concerts, anniversary celebrations and cast gatherings.
I made the Nashville location part of one of my trips to the city. Cooter’s tow truck and the General Lee greeted visitors outside, while the museum inside traced the program from its production through the merchandise that filled store shelves during its original run.
The displays combined original material with toys, lunchboxes, games and other products that followed the show’s success. Seeing those items together showed how far The Dukes of Hazzard had traveled beyond Friday-night television.
Visitors could stand beside the vehicles, study original production material and meet members of the cast. Jones remained an active host, often greeting guests and performing with Cooter’s Garage Band.
He understood that the show had outgrown its seven seasons on CBS. Cooter’s Place gave its audience somewhere to return.
I made Cooter’s Place a stop during a trip to Nashville and posed beside the General Lee outside the museum.
One last visit to Hazzard County
Ben Jones died Aug. 9 at 84, three weeks before his 85th birthday. His wife, Alma, announced that he suffered a massive heart attack at their Virginia home while waiting for an Atlanta Braves game to begin.
His family and close friends carry the personal stories that belong to them. I remember the mechanic who kept the Duke boys moving and the man who later built a place where the rest of us could visit again.
My condolences go to Alma, his family, his friends and the cast members who shared so much of his life. They also go to the many people he welcomed through the doors of Cooter’s Place.
Thank you, Ben, for keeping the garage open. Rest easy, Crazy Cooter.
