Nick Cassavetes · 2004 · filmed in Charleston and the Lowcountry
The Notebook
Rachel McAdams at the MTV Movie Awards in June 2005, the night she and Ryan Gosling won Best Kiss for The Notebook. Cropped from the original. Violetarizos · CC BY-SA 4.0Rachel McAdams
Ryan Gosling at the MTV Movie Awards in June 2005, the night he and Rachel McAdams won Best Kiss for The Notebook. Cropped from the original. Violetarizos · CC BY-SA 4.0Ryan Gosling
Randolph Hall and the Cistern Yard on a postcard of about 1940. E. C. Kropp Co., Milwaukee · Public domainThe College of Charleston
At the top: Rachel McAdams, Allie Hamilton · 2005.
Seats: Rachel McAdams, Violetarizos · CC BY-SA 4.0; Ryan Gosling, Violetarizos · CC BY-SA 4.0; King Street, Published for F. J Martschink Co. by E. C. Kropp Co., Milwauikee · Public domain; Gena Rowlands, Georges Biard · CC BY 3.0; James Garner, Alan Light · CC BY 2.0; Cypress Gardens, Tichnor Brothers, Inc. · Public domain; Sam Shepard, U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Tyler J. Clements · Public domain; The College of Charleston, E. C. Kropp Co., Milwaukee · Public domain.
A town you cannot visit
Build Seabrook
The story happens in Seabrook, South Carolina. There is a real Seabrook Island about 20 miles south-west of Charleston, but nothing was filmed there. The film made its town out of other places. Here is the town as the story uses it, with every lot empty. Open a lot and the real place that played it moves in.
Where we read it
Seabrook Island is real, about 20 miles south-west of Charleston, and no filming took place there.
On the Ferris wheel at the Vermont state fair in Rutland, September 1941, photographed by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. A fair of the film’s years, not a filming place. Jack Delano · Public domain
The film opens at a carnival in 1940, where Noah climbs the Ferris wheel to get a date with Allie. Start anywhere on the plan.
Where we read it
The story opens in 1940 at a carnival; Noah climbs the Ferris wheel for a date with Allie.
Distances are straight lines worked out from each place’s mapped position. Noah’s house, the nursing home and the creek are not mapped, so they never count. Across all thirteen lots the widest gap is 19 miles.
The first date is at the pictures on King Street, and the dance in the road outside. A few doors up is the house where Allie faints over a newspaper. The rest of the town’s streets are a few minutes’ walk away.
The American Theater at 446 King Street, opened in 1942. ProfReader · CC BY-SA 3.0
446 King Street, Charleston
The American Theater
Noah and Allie’s first date at the pictures was filmed at the American Theater, and they dance in King Street outside afterwards.
It opened on 19 September 1942 with Judy Canova in Joan of Ozark. Augustus E. Constantine was the architect.
It is now used for weddings and events, so only the outside can be seen. The red fire hydrant from the street scene is still there.
An events venue now, with no public screenings: see the front and the marquee from King Street. The red hydrant from the street scene is on the pavement outside.
The house was used for the scene where Allie faints after seeing Noah in the newspaper.
It is an 1807 Federal house. The South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company was founded in it in 1827, with William Aiken as its first president.
The house and the railway buildings round it became a National Historic Landmark district in 1963.
A few doors up from the theatre. See it from King Street; the inside opens only for booked events.
Where we read itRandolph Hall, the College of Charleston’s oldest building, across the Cistern Yard. Mike Ledford · CC BY-SA 4.0
66 George Street, Charleston
College of Charleston: the Cistern Yard
The film calls Allie’s college Sarah Lawrence, in New York; the campus on screen is the College of Charleston, and her college scenes are in the Cistern Yard.
The college was founded in 1770. Randolph Hall, its oldest building, dates from 1828 and was built with the labour of enslaved people.
The cistern was built in 1857 to catch rainwater from the roofs. Graduations have been held over it since the early 1930s, the graduates dressed in white.
The campus is open to walk. The Cistern Yard is in front of Randolph Hall on George Street.
Where we read itBroad Street in July 2024. Thomson200 · CC0
Broad Street, Charleston
Broad Street
Noah gets off a moving bus on Broad Street to go after Allie.
Its crossing with Meeting Street is the “Four Corners of Law”: a federal courthouse, a county courthouse, City Hall and St Michael’s Church.
At its east end stands the Old Exchange of 1771.
A public street; walk it from the Old Exchange on East Bay Street to Meeting Street.
Where we read itMarket Hall on Meeting Street, at the head of the market a short walk from High Cotton on East Bay Street. The restaurant itself is not shown. Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0
199 East Bay Street, Charleston
High Cotton
Noah sees Allie through the restaurant window, with Lon, after years apart.
It serves Lowcountry food and seafood; dinner from 4.30pm daily and brunch on Saturdays and Sundays.
Still a restaurant: dinner from 4.30pm every day, brunch at weekends. The photograph is Market Hall, a short walk away.
Where we read itRandolph Hall and the Cistern Yard on a postcard of about 1940. E. C. Kropp Co., Milwaukee · Public domain
Viator · Ad / affiliate
Charleston walking tours
Downtown Charleston
Live marketplace results for walking tours of the peninsula, past Broad Street, Meeting Street and King Street.
Across the harbour, Mount Pleasant gave the town its summer: ice cream on Pitt Street and, up the road, the summer house. That house is two buildings: Boone Hall outside, a Victorian mansion on Meeting Street inside.
Allie and Noah’s summer walk is down Pitt Street in Mount Pleasant’s Old Village, with ice cream from the pharmacy.
Many of the film’s Seabrook scenes were shot in Mount Pleasant.
The pharmacy and its soda fountain have been there since 1937.
Open Monday to Friday 9am–6pm and Saturday 9am–2pm; closed on Sundays. Walk down Pitt Street towards the water afterwards.
Where we read it
The house at Boone Hall, built in 1936. Rennett Stowe · CC BY 2.0
Outside
1235 Long Point Road, Mount Pleasant
Boone Hall
Boone Hall is the outside of Allie’s family’s summer house, and its gate is the one Noah drives into after they break up.
The house you see was built in 1936, after the old wooden one was pulled down.
Open Monday to Saturday 9am–5pm, Sunday noon–5pm; adults $30, children 6–12 $12. Admission includes the house tour, the Black History in America exhibit and the Gullah culture presentation.
Where we read itThe Williams Mansion at 16 Meeting Street, then called the Calhoun Mansion, in 2012. Rennett Stowe from USA · CC BY 2.0
Inside
16 Meeting Street, Charleston
Williams Mansion
The inside of the Hamiltons’ summer house was filmed here, when the house was still called the Calhoun Mansion.
It was built in 1875–76 for the businessman George W. Williams: 24,000 square feet, thirty main rooms and a ballroom 45 feet high.
In 2020 it went back to its first name, the Williams Mansion.
Closed for now; the house says it will reopen at a date not yet set. See it from Meeting Street.
Where we read it
The brick cabins at Boone Hall, built between 1790 and 1810 for enslaved people, now the Black History in America exhibit. Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0
Whose bricks
The bricks of Boone Hall and of many Charleston buildings were made here by enslaved people; by 1850 they made 4 million a year by hand, and their fingerprints are still in the bricks.
Nine brick cabins built between 1790 and 1810 for enslaved people now hold the Black History in America exhibit.
Boone Hall is open to visit, and its own exhibit in those cabins tells this part of its history.
Where we read it
Boone Hall Plantation & Gardens
Boone Hall
Mount Pleasant · Adults $30 · ages 6–12 $12 · Mon–Sat 9am–5pm, Sun noon–5pm
The summer house’s outside and its creek. A day ticket covers the house tour, the Black History in America exhibit in the nine brick cabins, the Gullah culture presentation and the tractor tour.
Cypress Gardens in June 2023. P. Hughes · CC BY-SA 4.0
Two separate places
Two waters
The film has two waters, filmed in two different places: a tidal creek on Boone Hall’s land for the canoes, and a cypress swamp up by Moncks Corner for the lake of birds. Boone Hall and Cypress Gardens are 15 miles apart in a straight line.
Showing Cypress Gardens, the blackwater water.
Cypress Gardens in June 2023. P. Hughes · CC BY-SA 4.0
3030 Cypress Gardens Road, Moncks Corner, Berkeley County
Cypress Gardens
The boat ride through the lake of birds was filmed here. The birds were trained and brought in; the swans were raised on a nearby lake.
The swamp was dug as a freshwater reservoir for the Dean Hall rice plantation of 1750. Benjamin Kittredge bought it in 1909 and opened it to the public in 1931.
It is an 80-acre blackwater swamp of bald cypress and tupelo. The 2015 floods shut it for nearly four years; it reopened on 13 April 2019.
Daily 9am–5pm, last admission 4pm; closed Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. The self-guided boats come with admission; guided swamp boat tours cost extra. About 40 minutes’ drive from Charleston.
Where we read itA boat in Cypress Gardens on a 1937 postcard, six years after the gardens opened. Tichnor Brothers, Inc. · Public domain
The birds were brought in.
The lake full of birds was staged. The birds were trained and brought in from elsewhere, and the swans were raised on another lake nearby.
Where we read it
Trained birds brought in from elsewhere for the Cypress Gardens scenes.
Moncks Corner, Berkeley County · Daily 9am–5pm · last admission 4pm
Take a boat out on the blackwater swamp where the lake scenes were filmed. The self-guided boats come with admission; guided swamp boat tours cost extra.
In the story Noah comes home from the war and rebuilds an old house by the water. The real one was never ruined: it is a private home on Wadmalaw Island, dressed by effects to look derelict. Before filming, Ryan Gosling spent two months in Charleston rowing the Ashley River and making furniture.
Where we read it
Noah’s house: a private home on Wadmalaw, made to look run-down by effects; Gosling’s two months rowing and making furniture.
Maybank Highway (SC 700) on Wadmalaw Island. Noah’s house is a private home on the island and is not shown. Washuotaku · CC BY-SA 4.0
Wadmalaw Island, Charleston County
Noah’s house
Noah’s house was a private home on Wadmalaw Island. It was not run-down; special effects made it look that way.
Wadmalaw is one of the Sea Islands, about 10 miles by 6, joined to the mainland by one bridge over Church Creek.
A private home. The island is named here; the house is not shown or pinned. Please do not go looking for it.
Where we read itThe Admiral’s House, built in 1905 on the old Navy base in North Charleston, in December 2020. ProfReader · CC BY-SA 4.0
Riverfront Park, former Navy Base, North Charleston
The Admiral’s House
Several interiors were filmed here, among them the balcony where Allie paints.
The film’s production offices were on the old Charleston Naval Shipyard in North Charleston.
The house was built in 1905 for the commandant of the Navy yard; its official name is Quarters A. The yard closed in 1996.
A venue for weddings and events with overnight stays. Tours by appointment on weekdays, 9am–3pm, when nothing is on.
Where we read it
City of North Charleston
The Admiral’s House
Riverfront Park, North Charleston · 2027: event with overnight stay $12,500 · each extra night $2,500
The 1905 commandant’s house on the old Navy yard where Allie paints on the balcony. Booked for weddings and events, with five en-suite bedrooms sleeping ten for an overnight stay.
James Garner at the Emmy Awards in September 1987. No free photograph of him from the early 2000s was found. Alan Light · CC BY 2.0James GarnerDuke
In a nursing home, a man who calls himself Duke reads a love story aloud to a woman who lives with dementia. The story is in her own notebook. She is Allie, and he is Noah; he uses another name so as not to frighten her. He reads it to her every day, as he promised.
Gena Rowlands played the older Allie, directed by her son, Nick Cassavetes. James Garner, as Duke, was nominated by the Screen Actors Guild.
Where we read it
Duke reads the story from her notebook; Allie has dementia; Duke is Noah, using another name.
Gena Rowlands at Cannes in 2006, two years after she played the older Allie. Georges Biard · CC BY 3.0Gena RowlandsAllie, later
Georgetown’s harbour. The nursing home in the film is a private property in Georgetown County and is not shown. Thomson200 · CC0
Georgetown County
The nursing home
The nursing-home scenes were filmed in Georgetown County. Wikipedia names Rice Hope Plantation; The Independent names Black River Plantation. Both are private.
A private property in Georgetown County; the sources do not agree which. It is named here, not shown or pinned.
Where we read it
Who made it
Rachel McAdams at the MTV Movie Awards in June 2005, the night she and Ryan Gosling won Best Kiss for The Notebook. Cropped from the original. Violetarizos · CC BY-SA 4.0Rachel McAdamsAllie Hamilton
Ryan Gosling at the MTV Movie Awards in June 2005, the night he and Rachel McAdams won Best Kiss for The Notebook. Cropped from the original. Violetarizos · CC BY-SA 4.0Ryan GoslingNoah Calhoun
Photograph withheld pending rights reviewMcAdams and GoslingBest Kiss, MTV Movie Awards, June 2005
Nick Cassavetes directed, from Jeremy Leven’s screenplay of Nicholas Sparks’s 1996 novel; Robert Fraisse shot it and Aaron Zigman wrote the score. Joan Allen is Anne Hamilton, James Marsden is Lon Hammond Jr. and Kevin Connolly is Fin. New Line Cinema released it in the United States on 25 June 2004.
1996the novel is published and New Line buys the film rights
2002–03filmed in and around Charleston, late 2002 to early 2003
10 places on the map: 6 in downtown Charleston, 2 in Mount Pleasant and 2 further out. Noah’s house, the nursing home and the creek are named but not pinned.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. An events venue now, with no public screenings: see the front and the marquee from King Street. The red hydrant from the street scene is on the pavement outside.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A few doors up from the theatre. See it from King Street; the inside opens only for booked events.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The campus is open to walk. The Cistern Yard is in front of Randolph Hall on George Street.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A public street; walk it from the Old Exchange on East Bay Street to Meeting Street.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Still a restaurant: dinner from 4.30pm every day, brunch at weekends. The photograph is Market Hall, a short walk away.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Closed for now; the house says it will reopen at a date not yet set. See it from Meeting Street.
1The American Theater at 446 King Street, opened in 1942. ProfReader · CC BY-SA 3.0
446 King Street, Charleston
The American Theater
Noah and Allie’s first date at the pictures was filmed at the American Theater, and they dance in King Street outside afterwards.
An events venue now, with no public screenings: see the front and the marquee from King Street. The red hydrant from the street scene is on the pavement outside.
The house was used for the scene where Allie faints after seeing Noah in the newspaper.
A few doors up from the theatre. See it from King Street; the inside opens only for booked events.
Where we read it
3Randolph Hall, the College of Charleston’s oldest building, across the Cistern Yard. Mike Ledford · CC BY-SA 4.0
66 George Street, Charleston
College of Charleston: the Cistern Yard
The film calls Allie’s college Sarah Lawrence, in New York; the campus on screen is the College of Charleston, and her college scenes are in the Cistern Yard.
The campus is open to walk. The Cistern Yard is in front of Randolph Hall on George Street.
Noah gets off a moving bus on Broad Street to go after Allie.
A public street; walk it from the Old Exchange on East Bay Street to Meeting Street.
Where we read it
5Market Hall on Meeting Street, at the head of the market a short walk from High Cotton on East Bay Street. The restaurant itself is not shown. Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0
199 East Bay Street, Charleston
High Cotton
Noah sees Allie through the restaurant window, with Lon, after years apart.
Still a restaurant: dinner from 4.30pm every day, brunch at weekends. The photograph is Market Hall, a short walk away.
Where we read it
6The Williams Mansion at 16 Meeting Street, then called the Calhoun Mansion, in 2012. Rennett Stowe from USA · CC BY 2.0
16 Meeting Street, Charleston
Williams Mansion
The inside of the Hamiltons’ summer house was filmed here, when the house was still called the Calhoun Mansion.
Closed for now; the house says it will reopen at a date not yet set. See it from Meeting Street.
Where we read it
Stay
A night by the balcony.
The Admiral’s House on the old Navy yard takes overnight stays with its events.
City of North Charleston
The Admiral’s House
Riverfront Park, North Charleston · 2027: event with overnight stay $12,500 · each extra night $2,500
The 1905 commandant’s house on the old Navy yard where Allie paints on the balcony. Booked for weddings and events, with five en-suite bedrooms sleeping ten for an overnight stay.
Boone Hall, a boat at Cypress Gardens, and tours of the peninsula.
Boone Hall Plantation & Gardens
Boone Hall
Mount Pleasant · Adults $30 · ages 6–12 $12 · Mon–Sat 9am–5pm, Sun noon–5pm
The summer house’s outside and its creek. A day ticket covers the house tour, the Black History in America exhibit in the nine brick cabins, the Gullah culture presentation and the tractor tour.
Moncks Corner, Berkeley County · Daily 9am–5pm · last admission 4pm
Take a boat out on the blackwater swamp where the lake scenes were filmed. The self-guided boats come with admission; guided swamp boat tours cost extra.
Dates, 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, every source
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
13 of 13 places · 15 of 15 Moments
The American Theater
446 King Street, Charleston
The first date
Noah and Allie go to the pictures, then dance in King Street.
William Aiken House
456 King Street, Charleston
The newspaper
Allie faints after seeing Noah in the newspaper.
College of Charleston: the Cistern Yard
66 George Street, Charleston
Allie’s college
Allie’s college scenes, set in New York, are filmed in the Cistern Yard.
Broad Street
Broad Street, Charleston
Off the bus
Noah gets off a moving bus to go after Allie.
High Cotton
199 East Bay Street, Charleston
The window
Noah sees Allie through a restaurant window, with Lon.
Williams Mansion
16 Meeting Street, Charleston
Inside the summer house
The Hamiltons’ summer house interiors are filmed here.
Pitt Street Pharmacy
111 Pitt Street, Old Village, Mount Pleasant
Ice cream on Pitt Street
A summer walk down Pitt Street, with ice cream from the pharmacy.
Boone Hall
1235 Long Point Road, Mount Pleasant
The summer house
Boone Hall plays the outside of Allie’s family’s summer house.
The gate
After the break-up, Noah drives his truck into the gate.
The creek at Boone Hall
On Boone Hall’s land, Mount Pleasant
The canoes
The canoe scenes are filmed on the creek.
The Admiral’s House
Riverfront Park, former Navy Base, North Charleston
The balcony
Allie paints on the balcony.
Production offices
The film’s offices are on the old Naval Shipyard.
Cypress Gardens
3030 Cypress Gardens Road, Moncks Corner, Berkeley County
The lake of birds
The boat ride through a lake of birds, with trained birds brought in.
Noah’s house
Wadmalaw Island, Charleston County
The house he built
A private home on Wadmalaw Island, made to look run-down by effects, plays Noah’s house.
The nursing home
Georgetown County
Reading to her
Duke reads Allie their story from her notebook, every day, in the nursing home.
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