Kellerman’s · summer 1963 · filmed 1986
“Baby” Houseman
Johnny Castle
Kellerman’s never existed. It was a stone hotel above a lake in Virginia and an old Boy Scout camp on a lake in North Carolina, 260 km apart. Both lakes have lost their water since.
1Which state?
Mountain Lake Lodge, Virginia. It hosted all the dining-room scenes, the Housemans’ cottage and most of the exteriors; the rest was shot at Lake Lure, North Carolina, and on a Hollywood soundstage. Guess the rest.
Nine scenes and the lift. Guess the state for each one.
2The resort
In 1986 Mountain Lake Lodge stood in for Kellerman’s, the resort in the film. The story is set in the Catskills of New York State, but the film was shot largely here in south-west Virginia.
All the dining-room scenes were shot at Mountain Lake Lodge.
The property covers about 2,600 acres in a saddle between Salt Pond and Doe Mountains, and it is open to the public.
A working resort at 115 Hotel Circle, Pembroke. The grounds and trails are open to everyone, and guided and unguided hikes are free.
Two gazebo scenes were shot at the lodge, one of them Baby confronting her father for giving her the cold shoulder.
On the lawn below the hotel. The lodge holds group dance lessons on its Dirty Dancing weekends.
The lodge calls its Virginia Cottage Baby’s Cabin. The scenes in the Housemans’ cottage were filmed at the lodge.
It sleeps up to ten, with three bedrooms, three bathrooms and a large private porch.
Dance card Mountain Lake Lodge
Pencil in a dance. The weekends bring dance lessons, trivia, a scavenger hunt and parties in Mary’s Barn.
Mary’s Barn · Mountain Lake Lodge
Pembroke, Virginia · Two nights · $200 dining credit
Two nights at the lodge that played Kellerman’s, with a welcome cocktail, a screening of the film, a film-scene scavenger hunt and a $200 dining credit.
See the packagePembroke, Virginia · Sleeps up to 10
The front-lawn cottage the lodge calls Baby’s Cabin: three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a big porch, sleeps ten. Pictured: the lawn below the main building.
Check the cabin
3The lift
Both lakes have claimed the lift, and neither stayed full. A landslide made the natural dam that formed it, about 6,000 years ago. It fills and empties in long cycles: it may not fill again in our lifetimes, or it might.
Choose a lake and a reading on the gauge, then press and hold Lift through the count of eight.
Mountain Lake, Virginia · 1986
Filming. There is water at the foot of the lawn.
By 2017 it was about a fifth of the size it was when the film was made.
Below the lodge. The lodge’s one-hour Prospect Rock and Bald Knob tours both finish on the lakebed.
Pembroke, Virginia · One hour each · book at Base Camp, 540-626-7121 ext. 470
Two one-hour guided tours of the grounds that both finish on the lakebed of Mountain Lake, where the lift was shot, to see whether the water is coming back.
See the toursThe lake and the dancers are drawn for this page; water levels are shown to scale with each record, not surveyed.
4The stairs
The stone stairway where Baby practised the mambo, and carried up the watermelon, still exists. Lake Lure Tours sails past the stairs where Baby carried the watermelon up to the staff cabins and practised her steps coming down.
Start the beat, then tap Step on one, two and three. Hold still on four.
The inn lists Baby carrying the watermelon and practising on the stairs among the Lake Lure scenes.
On private land: see them from the water on a boat tour.
Washburn Marina, Lake Lure · Adults $24 · every 90 min from 11am · last 4:30pm
A covered boat round the lake, past the stone stairs where Baby carried the watermelon. Tickets on the day from 10am, first come, first served.
See the tours5The floor
The camp’s gym became the banquet room for the final dance to (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life. The gym where the final dance was shot was demolished in the late 1980s. Its floor was saved and laid in the Esmeralda’s lobby in a late-1990s renovation.
The inn is closed while it rebuilds from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
6Where they stayed
In 1986 the inn hosted the cast and crew, Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey among them; they filmed and practised scenes in its Roosevelt Hall and at a former Boy Scout camp, now Firefly Cove. It opened in 1927, the year the dam was finished and the town of Lake Lure was incorporated.
A working hotel on the lake shore. Reservations: 828-625-2525.
Guest register Lake Lure Inn & Spa
Swayze played the dance instructor Johnny Castle, and Grey played Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman.
Lake Lure, North Carolina · Reservations 828-625-2525
Where the cast stayed in 1986. Book the Swayze Suite, the Jennifer Grey Suite, Baby’s Bungalow or Johnny’s Cabin. The spa is closed for now.
Check rooms
Its 16th green is the backdrop of a scene in the film, made to look like a practice green. The inn says this is the golf scene where Baby asks her father for $250.
A resort course, open daily 7.30am to 5pm from 2 January to 8 November. Proper golf attire required.
7The last dance
Not on the map
8 places on the map, 260 km apart from lake to lake. Firefly Cove is private: see it from a boat. The Esmeralda is closed while it rebuilds.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working resort at 115 Hotel Circle, Pembroke. The grounds and trails are open to everyone, and guided and unguided hikes are free.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Below the lodge. The lodge’s one-hour Prospect Rock and Bald Knob tours both finish on the lakebed.
Pembroke, Giles County, Virginia
In 1986 Mountain Lake Lodge stood in for Kellerman’s, the resort in the film.
A working resort at 115 Hotel Circle, Pembroke. The grounds and trails are open to everyone, and guided and unguided hikes are free.
Salt Pond Mountain, Giles County, Virginia
The lift in the lake was shot here, with most of the film’s exteriors.
Below the lodge. The lodge’s one-hour Prospect Rock and Bald Knob tours both finish on the lakebed.
Stay
The lodge that played Kellerman’s, the cottage it calls Baby’s Cabin, and the inn where the cast stayed.
Pembroke, Virginia · Two nights · $200 dining credit
Two nights at the lodge that played Kellerman’s, with a welcome cocktail, a screening of the film, a film-scene scavenger hunt and a $200 dining credit.
See the packagePembroke, Virginia · Sleeps up to 10
The front-lawn cottage the lodge calls Baby’s Cabin: three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a big porch, sleeps ten. Pictured: the lawn below the main building.
Check the cabinLake Lure, North Carolina · Reservations 828-625-2525
Where the cast stayed in 1986. Book the Swayze Suite, the Jennifer Grey Suite, Baby’s Bungalow or Johnny’s Cabin. The spa is closed for now.
Check roomsGo there
The boat past the stone stairs, the lodge’s tours to the empty lakebed, and guided trips nearby.
Washburn Marina, Lake Lure · Adults $24 · every 90 min from 11am · last 4:30pm
A covered boat round the lake, past the stone stairs where Baby carried the watermelon. Tickets on the day from 10am, first come, first served.
See the toursPembroke, Virginia · One hour each · book at Base Camp, 540-626-7121 ext. 470
Two one-hour guided tours of the grounds that both finish on the lakebed of Mountain Lake, where the lift was shot, to see whether the water is coming back.
See the toursLake Lure, North Carolina
Live marketplace results for guided trips around Lake Lure and Hickory Nut Gorge. Check each itinerary and what has reopened since Helene.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursGiles County, Virginia
Live marketplace results for the valley below Mountain Lake. Check each itinerary.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursWhat’s on
New Year’s Eve in Mary’s Barn and the lodge’s Dirty Dancing weekends.
Checking current event dates…
Take it home
The 1987 soundtrack LP and its sequel, Swayze’s and Grey’s memoirs, and the picture book.
Various artists · LP, RCA BL86408, 1987
The 1987 LP: The Time of My Life, Be My Baby, She’s Like the Wind and Hungry Eyes.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyVarious artists · LP, RCA 6965-1-R, 1988
The second soundtrack album, from 1988.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyPatrick Swayze and Lisa Niemi
Swayze’s memoir, written with his wife.
Find the bookJennifer Grey
Grey’s memoir, from 2022.
Find the bookForeword by Eleanor Bergstein
A picture book of the film, introduced by its writer.
Find the bookDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
12 of 12 places · 12 of 12 Moments
Pembroke, Giles County, Virginia
All the dining-room scenes were shot at Mountain Lake Lodge.
Front lawn, Mountain Lake Lodge
Two gazebo scenes were shot at the lodge, one of them Baby confronting her father.
Front lawn, Mountain Lake Lodge
The scenes in the Housemans’ cottage were shot at the lodge.
Salt Pond Mountain, Giles County, Virginia
The lift in the lake was shot at Mountain Lake.
Mountain Lake Lodge
2771 Memorial Highway, Lake Lure, North Carolina
The cast and crew stayed at the Lake Lure Inn in 1986.
Hickory Nut Gorge, Rutherford County, North Carolina
The log scenes were filmed at Lake Lure.
2930 Memorial Highway, Lake Lure
Lake Lure, North Carolina
Camp Chimney Rock’s cabins played Kellerman’s staff housing.
Johnny Castle’s cabin was filmed at the camp.
The camp’s gym became the banquet room for the final dance.
Firefly Cove, Lake Lure
Baby carries the watermelon and practises on the stone stairs at Lake Lure.
910 Main Street, Chimney Rock, North Carolina
The gym floor was saved and laid in the Esmeralda Inn’s lobby.
Rumbling Bald Resort, Lake Lure
Baby asks her father for $250 on the 16th green at Bald Mountain.
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