Where Was The Notebook Filmed? The Real Seabrook

The Notebook was filmed in and around Charleston, South Carolina. Seabrook, the small town where Noah and Allie fall in love, was pieced together from Mount Pleasant, downtown Charleston and the islands and plantations around them.

Noah’s house is a real home on Wadmalaw Island. Allie’s summer house is Boone Hall Plantation, and the rowboat ride through the white birds was filmed at Cypress Gardens. The only location on record outside South Carolina is the winter battlefield, filmed just outside Montreal.

This guide counts down the 10 Notebook filming locations, from that battlefield to Noah’s house. Then it covers the rain scene, the true story behind the film, and how to visit.

#	Real place	Scene	Where	Can you visit?
10	Just outside Montreal	The battlefield	Quebec, Canada	No
9	Rice Hope Plantation	The nursing home	Georgetown County	No. It’s private
8	College of Charleston	Allie’s college	Charleston	Yes, the campus is open
7	Williams Mansion	Inside the Hamiltons’ house	Charleston	Closed for now
6	The American Theater	The first date	Charleston	From the street
5	King Street at Mary Street	The street dance	Charleston	Yes
4	Pitt Street, Old Village	Downtown Seabrook	Mount Pleasant	Yes
3	Boone Hall Plantation	Allie’s summer house	Mount Pleasant	Yes, with a ticket
2	Cypress Gardens	The rowboat and the swans	Moncks Corner	Yes, with a ticket
1	Martins Point Plantation	Noah’s house	Wadmalaw Island	No. It’s a private home

The 10 Notebook Filming Locations

The countdown starts in a Canadian winter and ends at the house Noah built for Allie.

10) Just Outside Montreal, Quebec: The Battlefield

The only location on record outside South Carolina is the battlefield, shot in the snow near Montreal.

Noah and Fin go to war together, and only Noah comes home. Wikipedia says the snowy European battlefield was shot just outside Montreal. A 2021 Daily Hive report says parts of the film were shot in Montreal in 2003. Neither names the exact spot, and the battlefield set is long gone.

It’s a small part of the film, but it means some of The Notebook was shot in Canada. That fits, because both of its young leads are Canadian too.

9) Rice Hope Plantation, Georgetown County: The Nursing Home

The nursing home where Duke reads to Allie is a grand old house on the Black River.

In the present-day story, an old man called Duke reads a love story from a notebook to a woman with dementia. Their nursing home is Rice Hope Plantation, a 1919 house on the Black River near Georgetown, northeast of Charleston. It’s also called Black River Plantation, and both names point to the same property.

The house is not Noah’s house. It’s a separate property more than an hour’s drive away, and it’s private.

8) College of Charleston: Allie’s College

Allie’s college in New York was filmed on a campus in downtown Charleston.

After the summer ends, Allie goes to Sarah Lawrence College in New York. Those scenes were filmed at the College of Charleston, around the Cistern Yard with its live oaks and columned hall. It’s also where Lon, the soldier she meets while nursing in the war, picks her up.

You can walk through the Cistern Yard any time the campus is open. It has been in plenty of other films too, so it may look familiar.

7) Williams Mansion, Charleston: Inside the Hamiltons’ House

The rooms inside Allie’s family’s summer house were filmed in a mansion near the tip of the Charleston peninsula.

The outside of the Hamiltons’ summer house is Boone Hall, at number 3. The inside is a different house. The parlour, the staircase and the dining room were filmed at the Williams Mansion, a Victorian mansion a block from the Battery.

The mansion has been closed to tours for some time. When it was open, tours were by appointment only, and photos inside weren’t allowed.

6) The American Theater, King Street: The First Date

Noah and Allie’s double date at the movies was filmed at a real 1940s cinema on King Street.

Noah talks Allie into a double date at the movies. The cinema is the American Theater on King Street. It opened in 1942, two years after the film’s 1940 summer, so the timing is a little off.

The theater closed in 1977 and is now an event space. You can stand under the marquee. It often shows the names of couples who just married at the William Aiken House nearby.

5) King Street at Mary Street: The Street Dance

Noah and Allie lie down in the middle of the road, then dance in the street, on King Street a short walk north.

On their first night out, Noah gets Allie to lie down in the road and watch the traffic light change. Then they dance in the empty street. Both moments were filmed at King Street and Mary Street, with a traffic light and old details added for the 1940s look.

Today it’s a busy junction in the middle of Charleston’s shopping street. Take your photo from the sidewalk.

4) Pitt Street, Mount Pleasant: Downtown Seabrook

The small-town streets of Seabrook were filmed in Mount Pleasant’s Old Village, across the harbour from Charleston.

Much of Seabrook was filmed in Mount Pleasant’s Old Village. Noah and Allie stroll down Pitt Street, and the ice cream date was shot at Pitt Street Pharmacy, which opened in 1937 and still has its soda fountain.

The Old Village still has the quiet, small-town feel the film wanted. Park, walk Pitt Street and get something from the soda fountain.

3) Boone Hall Plantation, Mount Pleasant: Allie’s Summer House

The big white house where Allie’s family spends the summer is Boone Hall, at the end of its famous avenue of oaks.

Boone Hall plays the outside of the Hamiltons’ summer house. Allie runs up its porch, the couple ride bikes under the oaks, and the family eats dinner on the back lawn. In one famous moment, Noah races up to the house and skids his truck into the iron gate. The crash reportedly wasn’t in the script.

Boone Hall is one of America’s oldest working farms, growing crops for over 320 years. A visit includes a tour of the house’s first floor and the Black History in America exhibit in nine brick cabins built for enslaved people. Allow three to four hours.

2) Cypress Gardens, Moncks Corner: The Rowboat and the Swans

The rowboat ride through hundreds of white birds was filmed in a cypress swamp north of Charleston.

Noah rows Allie out to see the birds, and the lake fills with white birds, usually described as swans. The swamp is Cypress Gardens, an old rice plantation reservoir lined with cypress and tupelo trees. The birds weren’t wild. Director Nick Cassavetes said the crew raised them from chicks and walked them out to the lake every day.

Some reports also put canoe shots on the creek at Boone Hall, so the lake scenes may use both places. At Cypress Gardens you can take out a flat-bottom boat on your own at no extra cost. Expect herons, egrets, turtles and alligators, not swans.

1) Martins Point Plantation, Wadmalaw Island: Noah’s House

The white house with blue shutters that Noah rebuilds for Allie is a real home on an island southwest of Charleston.

Noah promises Allie he’ll fix up the old house and give her a white room with a view of the river. Years later, she sees the finished house in the newspaper and drives to Seabrook to find him. The house is on Martins Point Plantation, a private estate on Wadmalaw Island. The crew made it look run down for the early scenes, then showed it restored.

The house sits on a private lane in a private community. You need permission to go in, so please don’t try. Hooked on Houses says you can only see it from its private lane. The film still is the best view you’ll get.

Where Was the Rain Scene Filmed?

Director Nick Cassavetes said the kiss in the rain was filmed at a pier next to the house, with rain machines on one of the coldest days of the shoot.

Cassavetes said the crew shot the scene at “a pier… adjacent to where the house was”. The first attempt came out sunny, so they went back and used rain towers, sprinklers on tall stands. It was winter, and he called it “one of the coldest days”.

McAdams said her vintage shoes fell apart after the first few takes, so she’s barefoot in the later ones. Total Film later ranked it No. 4 on its list of the 50 best movie kisses.

Is The Notebook Based on a True Story?

Partly. Nicholas Sparks based it on his then wife’s grandparents, who were together for more than 60 years.

Sparks has said the couple inspired the story. His 1996 novel is set in New Bern, North Carolina, his own town at the time. The film moved it to Seabrook, South Carolina, and kept almost none of the North Carolina setting.

Seabrook Island is a real town near Charleston, but nothing was filmed there. The film made up its own Seabrook from the places in this guide.

How The Notebook Was Filmed

The Notebook was made for $29 million and became one of the best-loved romances of the 2000s.

• The shoot: Filming began in Charleston around 7 November 2002 and ran through the winter. Producer Mark Johnson said the team searched North Carolina and Virginia first, then found all its outside locations around Charleston.
• The casting: The final choice for Allie was between McAdams and Britney Spears. Cassavetes wanted a leading man who wasn’t a typical one, and told Gosling that was why he cast him.
• The prep: Gosling moved to Charleston two months before filming. He rowed on the Ashley River and built furniture, including a table used in the film.
• The clash: Cassavetes said Gosling and McAdams were “really not getting along” one day on set, until they had it out in a room with a producer.
• The box office: It opened in US cinemas on 25 June 2004. Box Office Mojo puts it at about $118.6 million worldwide.
• Since then: A musical version ran on Broadway in 2024 and is touring North America. Gena Rowlands, who played the older Allie, died in August 2024. Her son, Cassavetes, had said she lived with Alzheimer’s, the disease her character has.

How to Visit The Notebook Locations

You can see most of the public locations in one day from Charleston. Two of the most famous, Noah’s house and the nursing home, are private.

1. Start at Boone Hall in Mount Pleasant, about 8 miles from downtown. It opens at 9 a.m. Monday to Saturday and at noon on Sunday. Adults $30.
2. Walk Pitt Street in the Old Village for downtown Seabrook and the soda fountain.
3. Head downtown to the College of Charleston, the American Theater and King Street at Mary Street, all a short walk apart.
4. Drive to Cypress Gardens in Moncks Corner, about 25 miles north of Charleston. It’s open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with last entry at 4 p.m. Adults $10. Self-guided boats cost nothing extra but stop at 4:15 p.m., so get there early.

What you can’t visit: Noah’s house on Wadmalaw Island and the nursing home near Georgetown are private. The Williams Mansion is closed for now.

More Notebook Filming Locations

Place	Scene
Broad Street, Charleston	Noah jumps off a moving bus to chase Allie
High Cotton, East Bay Street	Noah sees Allie with Lon through the restaurant window
William Aiken House, King Street	Allie sees Noah’s house in the newspaper while trying on her wedding dress
The Admiral’s House, North Charleston	Some interiors, reported as rooms in Noah’s house
Edisto Beach, Edisto Island	Reported as the home Noah shares with his father
Seabrook Island	The town the film is named after. Nothing was filmed there

FAQs About Where The Notebook Was Filmed

The Final Cut on Where The Notebook Was Filmed

So where was The Notebook filmed? Around Charleston, South Carolina. Noah’s house is on Wadmalaw Island, Allie’s summer house is Boone Hall, the swans were at Cypress Gardens, and Seabrook’s streets are Mount Pleasant and King Street.

You can’t knock on Noah’s door, but you can row a boat at Cypress Gardens and walk under Boone Hall’s oaks. That’s a good day in Seabrook.

Which Notebook location would you visit first?

For more, see where Dirty Dancing was filmed, where Sweet Home Alabama found its Southern town, where Mamma Mia! found its island, or browse all our film locations.