Earlier last year the girls and I, as well as sometimes Sandy spent the later part of our evenings watching the One Tree Hill series. It didn’t take us long to become big fans. I had heard of it, but hadn’t watched it and after we finished the Gilmore Girls series we thought we’d check out the series that Chad Michael Murray left the Gilmore Girls for.
Fast forward to our vacation planning for Summer 2024… we knew after last summer’s vacation that we wanted part of our trip to be on warm water beaches and in an area we hadn’t yet explored. We also knew we had a little over 2 weeks since Ella starts one of her dance teacher certification courses mid July. So with that criteria, we looked into Wilmington, North Carolina. The girls had mentioned the city a few times since they discovered The Summer I Turned Pretty was filmed there and the beaches looked amazing. The more research we did, the more we were sold on this amazing city and it did not disappoint.
We arrived on July 4th. I learned that the fireworks were going to be down on the Riverfront. This is the area that some of One Tree Hill was filmed as well as Dawson’s Creek. I should add that we ended up watching the Dawson’s Creek series before we came since I had already watched some and thought it would be cool to also see more filming places.
Watching the Fireworks was surreal. It was a great 20 min show and the very next morning we came back to the Riverfront in the daylight to see some of the One Tree Hill spots. Google Maps made it easy, they are all on there.
First was the Naley (Nathan & Haley) bench. They replaced the seating on the waterfront, but this iconic one still remains (It is also featured in a lot of movies). A lot of moments on the show were filmed along this waterfront. We wandered around downtown checking out spots like Karen’s Cafe (pilot spot and later), then headed to the Bridge. The bridge is featured in the opening of the show. It was a huge highlight for me, there were quotes from the show written all over the bridge. Next was the River Court. The basketball court is no longer there, but we could see the area that it used to be in.
The next day we visited Airlie Gardens. This is a beautiful area. There wasn’t much from One Tree Hill filmed there, but Dawson’s Creek had a few scenes. I loved it here. We also stopped at the New Hanover Arboretum, which has significance to Dawson’s Creek. I loved that these shows allowed me to discover some pretty amazing spots that I may not have otherwise. So beautiful!
We roamed some amazing subdivisions to visit Brooke, Felix and Nathan’s houses. We also stopped by Lucas & Peyton’s houses which were in another part of town.
Beach scenes in these shows as well as The Summer I Turned Pretty were shot throughout the beach areas we visited. The beaches here are amazing. We went as much as we could and tried to check out a different area each time. The water was so warm (roughly 27 degrees C… around here they are typically 15 degrees), the waves were fun and sunsets were stunning with views of the various piers in the background.
We stopped by both schools used in One Tree Hill, one of them was Michael Jordan’s high school which was cool. Lastly we went to Tric. This was the under age club in the show that is currently used by a Non Profit group who has recreated / has original items from the show. You pay a fee for a self guided tour with a bunch of memorabilia. This was really neat. The actors still come back to Wilmington for charity events partnered with this Non Profit. They plan to continue to expand Tric. I’d definitely visit again in the future if they do this.
I loved that these shows had us exploring all parts of Wilmington. I’d totally do this in other cities too. It was a great way to see different areas. We spent a week in Wilmington and we only spent a small part of it exploring filming areas. Outside of that time we explored the city itself and really fell in love with the area. We did not want to leave. It is a perfectly sized city for us, with beaches close by and so much to do. We will definitely be back one day!
I Dream of Summer 
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