Cooter’s Place – Nashville, TN

So let’s say you were NOT a fan of country music, but you grew up watching television as a kid. Now let’s say you get stuck in Nashville for a few days with nothing to do. What’s the highlight of the trip going to be? ? ? ? You guessed it – Cooter’s Place.Cooter’s Place is a sort of ram-shackle museum or Dukes of Hazzard memorabilia. Some of the items are in mint condition and some of the items are held together with scotch tape and pinned to the wall crooked. Seriously. I’m not sure what the Duke Boys’ tie is to Nashville, since the show took place in Georgia, but that’s totally beside the point. The real point is that this place is awesome on 912 different levels. I found soooo many items I used to own when I was a kid. Matchbox cars, figurines, posters of Daisy, Underoos, model cars, license plates for your bike, t-shirts of Uncle Jesse, and half a billion photos of the cast members standing right there in that very shop. On top of all this, they have cars from the television show that you can sit in (some are replicas), and relive your glory days of sitting in Mom and Dad’s living room every night watching them Duke Boys run from the law.The place is actually run by Ben Jones, the actor who played Cooter on the television show before he turned politician, before he turned author, before he turned store owner, and before he turned into the lead singer of Cooter’s Garage Band (with a new album due out in 2011!!!). We didn’t see him at the shop that day, but we did get to see one of the ladies who works there fire up the General Lee and back it out into the parking lot (after one of the Minnesota Rollergirl Superfans moved their car from in front of the garage door – hahahaha)

I can’t rave about this place enough. Sure it’s full of trashy kitsch, but it’s also full of memories from when I was a kid. It’s also full of really short jeans shorts.




I tried not to buy a bunch of crap while I was there and somehow made it out of the gift shop under $25. It was difficult, but I managed. I will probably go back here if I get back to Nashville in the next 50 years. It probably won’t change that much. If you need directions, it’s right across the street from the Grand Ole’ Opry (and right next door to the equally trashy/tacky Willie Nelson Museum).

Love. It.