But the debutante ball itself was filmed at Wilmington’s St Mary Catholic School, which is also the oldest private club in North Carolina, founded in 1896.
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Belly’s prom
Belly and Conrad’s emotional season 2 prom scene was filmed at Porters Neck Country Club in Wilmington.
The Fisher Family’s Beach House
The house is located at Porters Neck Plantation, which is a private, gated golf course community in Wilmington. Exterior shots on the show were filmed at the house, while interior shots, including that enviable kitchen, were filmed on sound stages at Screen Gems Studio in Wilmington.
The house itself has five bedrooms and six bathrooms, an infinity swimming pool, as well as a private dock, a pier and a 33-foot boat slip. Fans cannot visit it as it’s a private residence.
The website for the house states that it is: “a private, gated golf course community offering an appealing blend of friendly, traditional neighborhoods and modern amenities. From the grand entrance to elegant houses lining manicured streets to the handsome Colonial-style Clubhouse, Porters Neck Plantation is a golf course community that borrows from the Low Country’s sense of tradition and history. Once you drive through the private gates, you will quickly realise the community’s dedication to preserving the natural canvas of the North Carolina coast and why it is one of the highly desirable Wilmington NC gate communities.”
The book shop
The exterior shots for the show’s Whale of a Tale Bookshop, where Laurel has a book party in season 1, took place at Papercut Books, which is located in downtown Wilmington.
The marina
The marina scenes were filmed at the Cape Fear Marina in Wilmington. If you were thinking of visiting, you should know that it’s a gated marina, and limited to residential and recreational boat use and not easily accessible for visitors.
Laurel and Susannah’s bar
The local bar named The Fat Pelican isn’t actually located on the beach – it’s just outside the boardwalk in Wilmington’s Carolina Beach.
The boardwalk
Scenes that involved rollercoasters and game playing at the boardwalk were captured in two places: Wilmington’s Carolina Beach Boardwalk for the exterior shots and Jungle Rapids Family Fun Park for the interior shots.
Location manager Lindsay Fort told People that filming these scenes were difficult due to tricky weather and struggles with fan crowd control. “It was so crazy,” she said. “We did have to implement having set security on season 2 because everybody is super excited to be a part of it. We didn’t want it leaked either because it’s such an iconic scene that we were excited for everybody to see.”
Brown University
Scenes that were meant to depict the East Coast Ivy League university were actually filmed locally at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
“It just had that feel that Jenny was looking for,” a source told People. Apparently, the crew even considered filming at the author’s alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, but “with COVID and timing it just didn’t work out.”
