Like mentioned in the itinerary through Georgia and in the random facts, I am a huge fan of the series The Walking Dead, as well as the comics. When we decided to go back to Atlanta, I just had to visit all the sites where my favorite show was filmed.
Our first spot was Driftwood Beach on Jekyll Island, since this filming site is close to Savannah. Driftwood Beach is the location where Tara Chambler gets stranded after she fell down the bridge and where Cyndie and Rachel from the Oceanside Community find her (Season 7, episode 6). Even though I couldn’t find the exact spot where they found here, it was well worth the trip: the beach and Jekyll Island are just beautiful and in the end I was actually sad to leave after only two hours.
Our first stop after getting to Atlanta was Senoia (1 Main Street, Senoia): it’s not only the real life Woodbury but also home to the Alexandria Safe Zone and many other filming sites. The Raleigh Studios, where a lot of scenes are filmed, is also located in Senoia. Most of the big communities and homes of the main groups are actually located on studio ground and therefore can’t be visited: the prison (Season 3, not there anymore), the Sanctuary (Season 7/8), Oceanside (Season 7/8), Hilltop (Season 6/7/8), Gabriel’s Church (Season 5) and many more. When you walk into “downtown” Senoia you are immediately reminded of the city of Woodbury (Season3/4) which was the home of the Governor and his group. If you are there, make sure to check out Nic & Norman’s (restaurant of Norman Reedus and Greg Nicotero, waiting time might be long but there is also a merchandising shop inside), the Senoia Coffee and Café and the Woodbury Shoppe (merchandising and it has a free museum in the basement).
Since I wanted to do a combined tour including a guided tour and a self-guided tour, I booked a guided tour with Dad’s Zombie Trip. This tour is given and organized by Chandler Riggs aka Carl Grimes real life Dad (William Riggs). I was in Atlanta during WSC, so there were a lot of people visiting Senoia that day. When I booked my tour with him, there was no open slot for me. But since I only had that one day, I mailed him and asked for a waiting list slot, just in case someone canceled. Hearing I came all the way from Germany, he opened up a slot just for me, which made me really happy and even more excited. I have read a lot of good reviews about the tour, but it exceeded my expectations. About two weeks before, William informed us, that he was not able to do the tour, but his wife, Gina-Ann was taking over. She is an awesome tour guide and due to being an extra and the onsite teacher for Chandler on set for several years, she had a lot of inside stories to tell. It is a walking tour through Senoia which takes about 1-1.5 hours. They also offer a second tour (Grantville and Sharpsburg by car), but since my time was limited, I was just doing the one in Senoia. Should I come back, I would definitely do that tour again and I can totally recommend it to anyone: http://www.dadszombieroadtrip.com/
Senoia Tour with Gina-Ann Riggs
If you have more time and also want to see the filming sites in Atlanta (mostly of the earlier seasons), I can recommend Atlanta Movie Tours. They offer a variety of tours and also offer a Shuttle from Atlanta to Senoia, since there is no public transportation.
After the guided tour, we drove down to Sharpsburg to take a look at Hershel’s Bar and the pharmacy of Maggie and Glenn from Season 2 (132 Terrentine Rd, Sharpsburg). To be honest, it’s nice to see, but since it doesn’t look like in the series, this is not a must do. After leaving Sharpsburg, we went to Grantville. This is where most of the filming of the Episode Clear (Season 3, Episode 12) happened and also where Morgan’s Apartment and the “Away with you” wall is located (Main Street, Grantville). There is a guided tour of the filming sites in Grantville as well, but since we had limited time, we decided to take a look at Morgan’s Apartment and walk around for a little while. When we were in the Apartment (it was $10), the guide gave us a map, which included all the sites they used for filming in Grantville. It’s not only a cool tool to explore, but also a great memory. Morgan’s Apartment is great and almost looks like you can see it in the Clear episode. There is also the possibility, to rent an Airbnb apartment right next to it.
I have to add, I was like a little child in a candy store, I was running from one site to the other and thrilled when I recognized a spot from the show. Before the trip I looked up a list where all the filming locations are tracked and wrote down the addresses of the ones I wanted to take a look at. I might have to add: a lot of the locations are on private property (e.g. Hershel’s Farm) and can’t be visited (please be mindful about this when you explore the area, private means private and shouldn’t be disturbed).
This is the site I used for finding the spots (since it’s not my content, I’m not responsible for it). It’s clustered into the different seasons and scenes: https://www.google.es/maps/d/viewer?mid=1x5Ed-nylk7BF2nlk0qjAW_GoNso&hl=es&ll=33.31446336261904%2C-84.77325406249997&z=8
On our way back to Atlanta we stopped at Carol’s house from Season 7 and the filming location of the kingdom (can’t really see anything to be honest). Another must-see is the Jackson Bridge, which gives you the view from Episode 1 where Rick rides into Atlanta (Jackson St. NE, Atlanta). All in all I was super happy that I had the chance to visit the filming sites and we even saw Norman Reedus on his way to the studios, it was a perfect day.
If you have any questions or feedback please comment down below or contact me, I’m always looking forward to hearing other people’s experiences or answer questions.
Anja Travels 