Five Films to Watch Before Your Visit to Charleston

Words by Sarah Nechamkin

With its natural beauty and historic character, the camera loves the Lowcountry.
From its windswept island beaches to its blackwater swamps and sweeping historic estates, the Lowcountry has a natural cinematic appeal. Filmmakers have long flocked to the region to shoot all kinds of movies and TV shows, from Outer Banks to Forrest Gump. But while Charleston has often been the onscreen stand-in for places around the country (2018’s Halloween reboot made Charleston a convincing substitute for suburban Illinois), the following five films, all of which are both set in and shot in the region, are distinctly representative of something fundamental about the city. Whether it’s the Southern romance of The Notebook or Daughters of the Dust’s historically accurate representation of the Gullah-Geechee people, these films capture not only the dramatic beauty of the Lowcountry, but also its essence. So grab your popcorn, get watching, and be ready to see Charleston through a new lens.

Cypress Gardens in Monck's Corner

The Notebook (2004)

This beloved drama is undoubtedly one of the most romantic films of all time, and just as romantic as the fateful love at its center are the old oak trees, grand mansions, and nostalgic streets of the Lowcountry sites where it was filmed. In the beginning of the film, Noah and Allie, played by Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, meet on a double date at the movies in the fictional town of Seabrook, South Carolina. But the famous scene, in which the leads lie in the middle of the road to watch the traffic light change, really takes place at the American Theater on King Street, right in the middle of downtown Charleston. What’s supposed to be Allie’s family estate is actually the Boone Hall Plantation, one of America’s oldest working plantations, with its iconic oak-lined driveway (“Avenue of the Oaks”). Its historic grounds and slave quarters are open daily for public tours and offer an important glimpse into Southern history. Later, Allie and rowboat through the magical blackwater swamps of Cypress Gardens in Monck’s Corner, about forty minutes from downtown Charleston, where boat rentals allow you to recreate the romantic scene with your other half. It’s the perfect film to get you in the mood for the historic, melodramatic romance inherent to the Lowcountry.

The Prince of Tides (1991)

This seven-time Oscar nominee (including Best Picture!) is another romantic drama, though its focus leans more heavily on the dramatic vistas of the coastline just outside Charleston. Based on the novel by Charleston native Pat Conroy, the film stars Nick Nolte and Barbra Streisand – who also directed and co-produced – and revolves around one man’s experience growing up in a dysfunctional family in South Carolina. Production filmed primarily in Beaufort and the surrounding Sea Islands; locations include the Beaufort River, with Nick Nolte filmed driving down the scenic waterway as he returns to visit his family, the historic homes of the Point neighborhood, and Fripp Island, the site of the family’s beach home and the movie’s many shots of its namesake tides. The result is a moving portrait of love amidst trauma, with the distinct light of the Atlantic coast naturally complimenting the film’s emotional tenor. Watch this one before your trip, and don’t forget to pack a pair of flip-flops for long, reflective strolls in the sand.

Swamp Things (1982)

For a different vibe altogether, turn to Wes Craven’s horror/sci-fi about the titular monster. While Swamp Thing is set in “the unexplored reaches of an unmapped swamp,” per the title card, the film was shot in the dense swamps of the Lowcountry – namely Cypress Gardens, the same blackwater swamp where Noah and Allie rowed their way to love in The Notebook. Thankfully they escaped unscathed, but visitors should beware; a creature could emerge between the jumbo-sized cypress trees at any moment, though it’s more likely to be an American alligator. As Craven said about his experience filming there, “There were alligators everywhere. People in South Carolina just sort of treat them like New Yorkers would treat pigeons.”

While the original DC Comic had the film’s villain Anton Arcane living in a medieval castle, Craven adapted it for a Southern context by filming Arcane’s debaucherous, nudity-laden parties at the Aiken-Rhett House, a historic antebellum home in downtown Charleston. The choice speaks to Charleston’s dark history, and who we constitute as heroes and villains. Today you can visit the Aiken-Rhett house, but tours begin in the backyard slave quarters, where enslaved people suffered at the hands of wealthy magnates like William Aiken (and his son, the onetime governor of South Carolina, who inherited the property). Because the Aiken-Rhett house is preserved “as-found” rather than restored, you’ll find not only the same chandelier featured in the risqué scenes that were intended for the European version of the film (but accidentally made their way into American homes, much to the chagrin of parents); you’ll also see one parlor painted a dingy gray – not a design choice, but a lasting mark of Craven and his macabre sensibilities. As such, the film has become just as much a piece of Charleston history as the 19th-century furniture.

Daughter's of the Dust (1991)

The first film directed by an African-American woman to receive a theatrical release in the U.S., Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust chronicles three generations of a Gullah Geechee family – the direct descendents of enslaved West Africans, who retain a thriving traditional community on the Sea Islands outside Charleston. Dash, who herself has Gullah heritage, prioritized historical accuracy when making the film, choosing to shoot the film entirely on location where the Gullah Geechee are most strongly connected: St. Helena Island, Hunting Island, and Beaufort. Cinematographer Arthur Jafa, also a famous artist who has a retrospective at The New Museum in New York City this fall, used the natural beauty of the landscape to achieve a dreamlike, sensual Southern gothic aesthetic (complete with long white dresses) that became so iconic, he was hired 25 years later to shoot footage for Beyonce’s Lemonade. The pop cultural moment put Daughters of the Dust back in the spotlight. It’s become a beloved cult classic, as much about the Peazant family as it is about memory – about holding onto history while the world marches forward. And there’s no better emblem for that than the Gullah-Geechee people, who still live on the Sea Islands, making sweetgrass baskets and Carolina red rice inspired by their West African ancestors.

The Patriot (2000)

Anyone interested in Revolutionary War history should run, not walk to Charleston. The city played a major role in the war, as fictionalized in Mel Gibson’s The Patriot, a film about a South Carolina farmer reluctantly drawn into the American Revolution when his son is killed by a British officer. While the film took plenty of creative liberties, its depiction of colonial “Charles Town,” as it was once called, offers a glimpse into the city’s past. In the film, horse-drawn carriages and soldiers march down Tradd and Meeting Street, while prisoners are held by British officers at the Old Exchange & Provost Dungeon downtown. The prison, which was once a British customs house until it was converted into a dungeon during the Revolutionary War, is open to the public with museum tours. But its brutal history – pirates, revolutionaries, prisoners of war, and other victims of the British army were often packed in together by the dozens – has given it a notorious reputation. It’s now considered one of the most haunted places in the state, with paranormal activity reported by visitors on a few too many occasions. It’s a testament to how, in Charleston, the past is just as alive as the present.