Hazzard County Filming Locations
The Newton County Courthouse square in Covington, Georgia, stood in for every Hazzard County exterior from the first episode in 1979. Walk it today and the proportions still match the television version of themselves.
At a glance
Covington is a county seat forty miles east of Atlanta. When Gy Waldron created The Dukes of Hazzard for CBS, production chose Newton County because its town square, its dirt roads, and its distance from interstate infrastructure read, on camera, as the South television needed. Early-season filming took place here and in nearby Conyers (Rockdale County) before the show relocated to Warner Bros. Studios in California. The courthouse square appears in well over a hundred of the 147 episodes despite the production shift west. Covington has since become one of the most-used television filming towns in the United States.
Key facts
- Location: Newton County Courthouse Square, Covington, Georgia, USA
- Coordinates: 33.5967933, −83.8601174
- Series run: January 26, 1979 – February 8, 1985
- Network: CBS — 7 seasons — 147 episodes
- Created by: Gy Waldron
- Produced by: Warner Bros. Television, Lou Step Productions, Piggy Productions
- Cars sacrificed as General Lee: 256–321 Dodge Chargers
- Visitor bureau: gocovington.com/Tourism
History
The Dukes of Hazzard premiered on January 26, 1979, introducing audiences to cousins Bo and Luke Duke, their cousin Daisy, and Uncle Jesse, all working a farm in the fictional Tri-Counties Area of the rural South. The show’s premise rested on a legal constraint: Bo and Luke were on probation following a federal bootlegging charge, confined to county boundaries and barred from firearms. Within those limits, every episode delivered at least one extended vehicle chase.
Gy Waldron drew on real Georgia geography and folklore. Production landed in Newton County partly because Covington’s town square was already what television writers imagined when they wrote the words “county seat.” The courthouse, the surrounding storefronts, the grid of streets — none of it required dressing. The cameras moved in and found Hazzard already built.
Production transferred to Warner Bros. Studios in California after the initial Georgia seasons, as car stunt logistics outweighed the authenticity of location shooting. The show concluded on February 8, 1985. It remains one of the highest-rated programs in CBS history, and its early Georgia episodes fixed the visual language of the series for the fans who grew up with it.
What you see
The Newton County Courthouse occupies the center of Covington’s town square. Its red-brick form, clock tower, and surrounding commercial block appear in establishing shots throughout the early seasons as Hazzard County Courthouse — the seat of Boss Hogg’s authority and the backdrop to most of the show’s confrontations between the Dukes and local law enforcement. Visitors who watched the series as children report the same experience: the square is the right size. Television rarely creates outdoor spaces this successfully, and Covington succeeded by offering something no soundstage could replicate — a real town with real proportions and real patina, filmed straight.
The Boar’s Nest, the roadhouse where Daisy Duke worked and where Boss Hogg conducted his loudest scheming, was filmed at a building that now serves as a church. Its exterior remains. Other locations — the dirt roads where General Lee went airborne, the garage Cooter worked from, farm-road stretches outside town — ring Covington and extend into surrounding Newton County countryside. The Covington and Newton County Convention and Visitors Bureau operates a self-guided driving tour covering the primary filming locations.
Hollywood of the South
Covington kept getting chosen after Hazzard wrapped. In the Heat of the Night, the CBS procedural starring Carroll O’Connor, used the town from 1988 through 1994. The Vampire Diaries (2009–2017) repurposed the same courthouse square as its fictional Mystic Falls, Virginia — meaning two generations of television viewers have looked at the same brick facades and seen two entirely different American towns.
More than forty productions have filmed in Newton County. Covington’s persistent appeal comes down to the same factors that attracted Waldron in 1978: a legible town center, varied rural geography within short driving distance, and an absence of the visual noise that makes most American towns unworkable as period settings. Covington does not make much of being Hazzard. It makes more of being itself.
The General Lee
The show’s central vehicle was a 1969 Dodge Charger painted Hemi Orange, numbered 01 on doors and roof. Between 256 and 321 Chargers were sourced and prepared across the seven seasons, the range reflecting the difficulty of acquiring and destroying cars at industrial scale. Each jump sequence typically required one car: the chassis bent, the roof caved, the doors jammed. The body absorbed damage severe enough to prevent reuse.
Al Wyatt holds the production record for longest jump — approximately 236 feet (72 meters) — executed on a Newton County dirt road in the first two seasons. Stuntmen John Cade and Corey Eubanks performed the majority of jump sequences; Buzz Bundy specialized in two-wheel stunts using vehicles known on set as the “sky Generals.” The show treated General Lee as a single car, perpetually repaired, never truly destroyed. Audiences knew the car was invincible in the same way they knew Bo and Luke would prevail. The formula was not about plot. It was about the pleasure of watching capable people do what they do, at speed.
Practical information
- No admission required; the courthouse square is a public space
- Allow 1.5–2 hours for a self-guided walk of the main locations
- Pick up the official Dukes of Hazzard driving tour map at the Visitors Bureau on the square
- Covington filming locations combine naturally with Conyers (Rockdale County) sites in a half-day itinerary
- The town center is walkable; most key locations fall within a 10-minute walk from the square
Getting there
Covington lies 40 miles (64 km) east of Atlanta via Interstate 20. Exit 90 (Almon Road) or Exit 93 (GA-142) serve the town center. Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) is approximately 50 miles from the courthouse square. There is no direct rail service; a car is necessary. The drive from downtown Atlanta takes 45–55 minutes depending on traffic.
Nearby
- World of Coca-Cola, Atlanta — 50 miles west, the flagship museum of America’s most exported brand
- Stone Mountain Park, Georgia — 30 miles northwest, carved-relief Confederate memorial and state park
- Augusta, Georgia — 80 miles east, home of The Masters golf tournament at Augusta National
Frequently asked questions
Where is Hazzard County?
Hazzard County is fictional. The exteriors that defined it were filmed in and around Covington, in Newton County, Georgia, about 40 miles (64 km) east of Atlanta. The Newton County Courthouse square stood in for the centre of Hazzard through the early seasons.
Is Hazzard County a real place?
No. The Dukes of Hazzard placed the county in a fictional Tri-Counties Area of the rural South. What you can actually stand in are the real Georgia towns that played it: Covington and nearby Conyers, in Rockdale County.
Where was The Dukes of Hazzard filmed?
Early-season filming took place in Covington and Conyers, Georgia. Production then moved to Warner Bros. Studios in California, yet the Covington courthouse square appears in well over a hundred of the 147 episodes.
Can you visit the Hazzard County filming locations today?
Yes. Covington’s town square is public and free. The Convention and Visitors Bureau on the square hands out a self-guided Dukes of Hazzard driving-tour map covering the courthouse, the former Boar’s Nest building and the surrounding country roads. Allow 1.5 to 2 hours.
What is Hazzard County today?
The real place is Covington, Georgia. The same square has since played other fictional towns, most famously Mystic Falls in The Vampire Diaries, but the buildings are unchanged and still recognisable from the show.
See this location in context: Set-Jetting: Six Famous Film & TV Locations You Can Actually Visit.
Sources & resources
Gallery
Photographed by Luigi De Marchi.
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