Dukes of Hazzard Filming Locations - The Firefly at Madison

Sometimes when you take a road trip, you need a quest. This week’s road trip was the quest for the Dukes of Hazzard Filming Locations, To be specific, some Boss Hogg filming locations from the old TV show “The Dukes of Hazzard.”

You do know, don’t you, that many of the scenes from this TV show were filmed around Covington, which is a few miles down the road from us.

Why are we telling you about a 70’s TV Show?

Well, it’s because there are a lot of day trips near Madison, and we do enjoy putting our guests onto some interesting experiences. We’re practically experts on travel in the southeast US. If you are a visitor from Europe and California, it’s fun to know that there are still places that have a bit of a cult following. If you don’t like Boss Hogg you can easily turn this into the “Sweet Magnolias” quest. Suit yourself.

Millennial Update: The Dukes of Hazzard

This was a TV show from the early days of television, the 70’s. This show could not be made today because of objectifying women, hate symbols, flagrant disregard for the police, and glorifying car chases.

The main foil for the two heroes was Boss Hogg, the hypothetical villianous commissioner of “Hazzard County” who had a decades long feud with Jesse Duke, and whose ongoing efforts were to try to exploit as many systems as possible to make money.

I have linked the Wikipedia article in the reference section. The definitive list of Dukes of Hazzard filming locations is from a guy from the Netherlands, and I have also linked it.

Stop 1: Boss Hogg’s Office

Boss Hogg, county commissioner, had his office in the second floor of the county courthouse, in this building. Fans of more modern TV know this same building as the courthouse on the square in Covington.

Covington Courthouse, which was used in the Dukes of Hazzard and also the Vampire Diaries

This pretty old courthouse is used heavily in the Vampire Diaries as well, and the day we were there, a crowd of tourists were getting their selfie-lust satisfied.

Stop 2: The Boar’s Nest

This is a critical spot in American culture because it is the workplace of Daisy Duke, symbol of not especially wholesome boss/employee dynamics.

Daisy was the ironic cousin of the Dukes, who Boss Hogg supposedly hated. But, she looked good around the place, and her name is now immortalized as too-high-cut-off jeans. The 2005 movie remake of this was played by Jessica Simpson and April Scott in the 2007 “Prequel.”

Quest for Boss Hogg Reality:

This place is now an ironic little church, still tucked in around the trees north of town. At the time we visited it, Sunday Morning, it was nice and peaceful. There were no signs of car chases around the parking lot, or the place where Daisy got into bar fights.

Since we are easily distracted, we considered our mission accomplished for the moment. But, we were in an exploring mood, so we kept driving.

Stop 3: Porterdale

Porterdale is an old mill town, with a population of about 1200 just south of Covington on Highway 81.

It is noteworthy for several reasons. We tour these old mill towns all the time. because they give us the “what if” feeling. This particular one, next to the Yellow River, is especially interesting, because of its use of water. An industrial historian would ask to see the turbine room.

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This place was founded in 1917, which was right before the Great Migration. It is at that period that began consolidation of the cotton industry, and it is unusually well preserved. At the moment it is being made into condos, which should be its highest and best use.

The former Porter Gymnasium is interesting in that it is being used as an outdoor venue at the moment, for weddings and concerts. It’s a bit sleepy right now. This is because this whole area is sleepy.

We generally like places like this because we see them as an opportunity for niceness. All of the action that day was around the Vampire place in the square, because of the TV history.

Porterdale Mill, now being turned into condos

The Mystic Grill was full of people and had an hour wait, because of the tourist attraction thing. The Social Goat, which was also on the square had zero wait. This is the building that used to be the Irish Pub but is now much better. The food here was beautifully prepared, and they did not give us anything to say something nice about them.

The feast of the day was Eggs Benedict and decadent Fish and Chips, with the $5 champagne. The wait person, Lexi, was not wearing Daisy Dukes that day, and was unlikely to chase down bad guys and fight them.

We had to dig the artwork along the walls.

Fish and Chips and Eggs Benedict at the Social Goat

Stop 5: Dixie Pickers

We were in the mood for a drive out in the country and came upon this place. The nice thing about it was that because it is in the country, the selection is a little more interesting and less picked-over than some of the places in Monroe that we go.

The prices are also a little better, and it seemed a little more authentic somehow.

The treasure of the day was this nice Hall’s bowl. We estimate it to be worth in the neighborhood of $50 but we got for $10.

The hog, in honor of Boss Hogg, did not make the cut, because we are deferring consumption.

We often go to places for ideas, and this place had a nice little greenhouse in back. This was made out of old windows. We have had it on our agenda to do something like this for a couple of years. At some point, we may attempt the straight, level, and good drainage version of this.

Exploration is sometimes about getting ideas.

The Boon, which is a $50 bowl we got for $10

Note to self Build something that looks like this at some point.

The Quest for Boss Hogg

So the bottom line on this is that we had to declare the Quest for Boss Hogg to be successful. We found some Boss Hogg historical sites. We had Fish and Chips, and played the “What If” game. And, we came back with the Boon, which is like a Grail but you can put fruit in it.

The lesson is that on an otherwise low key day, you can be tourists in your own area. Sorry we missed Daisy Duke.

Be there in the square.