In The Heat Of the Night Re-Heat Tour Visits Covington Georgia

COVINGTON, Ky. - May 21, 2014 - PRLog -- Covington, Georgia, (May 18^th, 2014): Mystic Falls tours held its inaugural In the Heat of the Night back lot set tour this past weekend.  The two-hour tour was co-led by In the Heat of the Night actress Maureen Dowdell who played Tracy Boggs. Jessica Lowery, who leads the The Vampire Diaries Tours also led the tour. The inaugural tour also included a special appearance by Carroll O’Connor’s stunt double Grady Stradley.

The addition of these iconic stars on the tour allowed for guests to receive even more behind the scenes information. For many guests this was their favorite part. Dowdell and Stradley showed the passion they had for the series through the divulgence of facts they were able to give to guests.

Guests also got the opportunity to be some of the first to ride on Covington’s new “Holly the Trolley.” The trolley took them to different In the Heat of the Night homes, such as Virgil Tibb’s house, Bill Gillespie’s house, Whitehall, and much more.

Accompanying the trolley were some of the homeowners who owned homes where In the Heat of the Night used to film. The homeowners were able to tell more about the cast and crew since they had personally worked with them. This gave guests the feeling that they were a part of the filming, and created a more personalized tour that was enjoyable for everyone who was a part of it. Some homeowners weren’t able to ride along on the trolley but contributed to the tour in different ways.

The tour included two behind the scene views of two key sites from the show. The first one was the Sparta Courthouse. This was filmed in the courtroom of the Newton County Courthouse.  Guests were able to sit in seats once filled by their favorite actors. Next, guests hopped aboard the trolley to Bill Gillespie’s house. The homeowner graciously allowed the tour group to peruse her backyard and tour her home where some episodes were shot.

Overall, the tour was a success. Jenny McDonald said, “Our first guided tour was small but very successful I think. The fans we had on the first tour were awesome and what I consider ‘super fans’. They are the best kind. Being a small group, we were able to spend a lot of one on one time getting to know them and actually learning many interesting things from them. We loved it and hope to keep doing it.”

With the success of the inaugural tour, we can only see good things to come out of the In the Heat of the Night Re-Heat tours. We can’t wait to see what they bring to the Hollywood of the South!