Movie destinations offer travellers the chance to walk in the footsteps of beloved (or notorious) characters, see familiar streets and buildings, and experience the real-world places that brought memorable stories to life.
There’s a special thrill in recognising a movie scene around the next corner – and in seeing how the magic of the big screen transforms when you’re standing in the actual setting.
Add crisp autumn air, colourful foliage and a little Halloween atmosphere, and these cinematic destinations in the United States become especially irresistible.
Sonoma County, California
Films: The Birds, Scream
Visitors to Sonoma County can step into the settings of two influential horror classics: Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds and Wes Craven’s Scream.
Along the picturesque Sonoma Coast, travellers can follow in Hitchcock’s footsteps through Bodega and Bodega Bay. The historic Potter Schoolhouse and neighbouring St Teresa of Avila Church remain much as they appeared in The Birds.
Visitors can also explore Bodega Head, walk the windswept coastal trails, and dine overlooking the waterfront at The Tides, another location closely associated with the film. Nearby stays include The Lodge at Bodega Bay and The Inn at the Tides, both offering easy access to the film sites and dramatic coastal landscape.
Farther inland, Scream fans can explore several locations used to create the fictional town of Woodsboro. The Sonoma Community Centre portrayed Woodsboro High School, while Healdsburg Plaza, Glen Ellen and residential areas of Santa Rosa appeared throughout the film.
Sonoma County’s golden vineyards, changing leaves, historic towns and cooler autumn evenings give these locations an especially fitting atmosphere during the Halloween season.
Perryopolis, Pennsylvania
Film: Silence Of The Lambs
Though the 1991 psychological thriller starring Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster was famously set in Baltimore, Maryland much of it was filmed in Pennsylvania including the 1910 Victorian Buffalo Bill’s House in Perryopolis where the climactic scenes were created.
Unlike some film locations, visitors can do more than take a tour. The house is also available as a short-term rental, allowing guests to spend the night inside one of the most recognisable settings from one of the creepiest movies ever made.
The owners have transformed the property into an immersive tribute to the film.
Savannah, Georgia
Film: Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil
Savannah is ideal for an autumn film-location story as the historic architecture, moss-draped oaks and numerous squares already seem cinematic.
The Mercer Williams House located on Monterey Square in Savannah’s Historic District is an elegant Italianate mansion designed in 1860.
The house gained worldwide fame through John Berendt’s 1994 best-selling non-fiction novel Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil, and the 1997 Clint Eastwood film adaptation starring John Cusack and Jude Law.
What makes the house a unique movie destination is that it’s inseparable from the real-life story portrayed in the book and film. Visitors aren’t just simply seeing a building that appeared in the movie – they’re visiting the actual home at the centre of the story that’s open for tours.
Salem, Massachusetts
Film: Hocus Pocus
The town of Salem is almost a tailor-made “step into the movies” story because Hocus Pocus used many real Salem locations – and the city’s existing witchcraft history makes the movie connection feel especially natural.
Released in 1993, the film stars Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy as the often bumbling but entertaining Sanderson “witch” sisters accidentally resurrected in Salem on Halloween night.
Visitors today can tour several settings from the movie, including Pioneer Village built in 1930 and portrayed as Salem Village, Old Town Hall in Derby Square, the site of the Halloween party sequence, the Ropes Mansion and Salem Common.
St Helen’s Oregon
Films: Halloweentown, Twilight
The town of St Helen’s, a 45-minute drive west of Portland in Oregon, is a particularly fun movie destination for an autumn or Halloween story. This is because the small Columbia River town has managed to turn its film history into an experience visitors can actually enjoy with strong connections to both Disney’s Halloweentown (1998) and Twilight (2008).
Much of the original Halloweentown was filmed in downtown St Helens, with the historic Columbia County Courthouse built in 1906 and surrounding plaza serving as the fictional town gathering place.
The historic Columbia Theatre is featured in both Halloweentown and Twilight. And speaking of the cult-classic Twilight, visitors can see the house used as Bella Swan’s home along with downtown locations associated with scenes from the series.
Estes Park Colorado/Mount Hood, Oregon
Film: The Shining
Though The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park was not the actual setting for Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall, the Stanley was the inspiration for Stephen King’s novel, The Shining.
In 1974, near the end of the hotel’s season, King and his wife Tabitha were the hotel’s only guests. King stayed in Room 217 and the experience – including the hotel’s long, nearly empty corridors and isolated mountain setting and legendary paranormal reputation – inspired his story about the haunted Overlook Hotel.
The Stanley became an actual filming location for the 1997 television mini series of the same name. Visitors can take daytime historical tours, nighttime paranormal tours, and yes, Room 217 remains one of the property’s most requested rooms.
The historic 1937 Timberline Lodge in Mount Hood, Oregon was actually used for exterior shots in the film as the eerie but fictional Overlook Hotel. Though not “officially” haunted, the lodge embraces its spooky reputation, especially during Halloween.
It has an experience that features ghost stories about Timber-line and Mount Hood. – Noreen Kompanik/Travel Pulse/Tribune News Service
