Cooter’s goes over the mountain
Rappahannock residents Ben Jones and Alma Viator are taking their Cooter’s in the Country operation over the mountain.
The Page County Office of Economic Development announced last Friday that Cooter’s will open in the building previously occupied by Outlanders Motorcycles, on U.S. 211 just west of Luray.
“It is our privilege to announce that Page County will become the home to Cooter’s,” read a post on the Page County Economic Development Facebook page.
Ben Jones, who starred in the “Dukes of Hazzard” 1980s TV series and operates two other Cooter’s attractions in Tennessee, confirmed the new location Saturday on his Facebook page.
“Our parking problems have created an untenable situation at our current location but we have found a wonderful new location just above the Shenandoah River about four miles west of the famous Luray Caverns. We’ll still be on Highway 211, but we’ll be only about ten minutes from Interstate 81, a major north/ south highway,” Jones wrote. “The building is the former home of Outlanders Motorcycles, and it is an ideal setting for what we want to create. There is a very large space for our ‘Dukes Museum,’ room to do live music events, a restaurant area, and acres of parking areas.”
After serving two terms as a congressman in Georgia, Jones opened the first Cooter’s in 1999 on the two-lane highway just west Sperryville, closing it when he opened a Cooter’s in Gatlinburg, and another in Nashville.
The current store, which was opened last year at Old Hollow Road and 211 just east of Sperryville, sits in a small commercial zone with a backyard and overflow parking area in an agricultural zone. Jones withdrew his application for a special permit to allow weekend music events in 2015 after it met with opposition at a planning commission session; this summer, neighbors’ complaints about traffic, parking and al- legations of zoning violations prompted Jones to announce in August that Cooter’s would close Oct. 31.
Jones has publicly blamed “local ‘big shots.’
“Alma and I have sincerely worked to address these issues,” he wrote in August, “but the petty harassment has continued to the breaking point for us. Life is simply too short to appease this kind of small-minded crapola.”
Speaking of coliform bacteria, the current store is also under a health department order to boil all water used for food preparation; property owner Dick McNear said last week that a new commercial well, which recently amended Virginia regulations now require of even small momand-pop operations that serve food, would cost up to $20,000 to drill and connect, the nearest suitable spot being more than 100 yards from the store. Cooter’s was reportedly asked to pay for half the projected cost.
Cooter’s will remain open in Sperryville until Oct. 31; there’s a Cooter’s Garage Band concert on Oct. 22 to benefit of the Sperryville Volunteer Fire Department.