Recently, my roommates and I have been obsessed with watching The Vampire Diaries, quite possibly one of the greatest shows of the 2010s. With supernatural beings, adventure, romance, and of course Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder, who wouldn’t be interested in the show? What we didn’t realize, however, was how close we are to where the show was primarily filmed: Covington, Georgia.
Covington is a small town that is about six and a half hours (by car) away from Tampa, FL. Located just outside of Atlanta, it’s no surprise why this town would be nicknamed “The Hollywood of the South.” The town’s gorgeous southern architecture makes for good backgrounds and the weather tends to be nice year-round. While The Vampire Diaries is probably one of the most popular productions that happened in Covington, lots of other tv shows and films have been shot here. For example, scenes from Dukes of Hazzard, Sweet Magnolias, Remember the Titans, Footloose, Sweet Home Alabama, and more have been filmed in the quaint town.
While it’s cool to know where all the other movies/tv-shows were filmed, my roommates and I really focused on The Vampire Diaries and Legacies (a spinoff of the previous). All around town you can see the famous bell tower, the legendary Mystic Grill where Matt and Jeremy worked, Bonnie, Caroline, and Elena’s houses, the cemetery, the Lockwood Mansion, etc. Once realizing these were real places and not just set made by the producers, it’s insane to be where Nina Dobrev once stood or where Damon Salvatore once ripped someone’s heart out (yes, you read that correctly). They even have a few stores where you can buy merchandise, blood bags (fake ones of course), daylight rings, and see what the actors wore on the show (some are even signed)!
It’s interesting to see how such a small town can help bring to life so many amazing films and tv shows. In fact, they are currently filming there for Legacies, so maybe the locals will have a chance to see some of the actors walking around town or even outside their own homes! I wonder what big movie will be filmed there next… guess we’ll just have to wait and see to find out!