I recently visited Oak Island, North Carolina. (No, not the cursed one that’s the focus of a show on The History Channel — that one’s in Nova Scotia!) This one is a lovely, not-cursed beach town where friends of ours invited us to stay at their family’s vacation home. It’s a nice, quiet place to spend a vacation on the beach.

While we were there we visited nearby Southport. You might not recognize it by name, but many movies filmed there, including I Know What You Did Last Summer, Summer Catch, Domestic Disturbance, Crimes of the Heart, Mary and Martha, Nights in Rodanthe, A Walk to Remember and Safe Haven.

The group of friends I was traveling with kept talking about Safe Haven, a 2013 movie based on the book by Nicholas Sparks starring Julianna Hough, Josh Duhamel and Cobie Smulders. I had not seen the movie; so when I got home, I had to watch it! And, sure enough, I recognized some of the places in the movie.

The general store, Ryan’s Port Market, that Josh Duhamel’s character, Alex, worked at was actually built just for the movie. **SPOILER ALERT** The store burns down at the end of the movie and the set, too, was destroyed after filming. Built in its place is now a restaurant called Fishy Fishy Café. (If you go, I recommend the clam chowder.)

Across the street from the general store in the movie was Alex’s house. In reality, it’s a little further down the street, but we did walk by and I snapped a photo. The big tree still stands out front, but I didn’t see the swing Julianna Hough’s character, Katie, was seen swinging on at the end of the movie. It’s privately owned, so fans must admire respectfully. Down the street, Ivan’s Restaurant, where Katie worked as a waitress, is actually a waterfront bar called American Fish Company. We enjoyed a drink there while waiting for our table at Fishy Fishy.

Other places in the movie include storefronts on the Moore Street business district, shown during the Fourth of July parade, and Moore Street Market was the site where Katie and Colbie Smulders’ character, Jo, grabbed a bite to eat. The Southport Fisher Ferry was the location of the ferry scene shot at the ferry dock, and the Small City Pier was the location of several scenes of Katie deep in thought.

It was fun to watch the movie and look for places we saw. Maybe next time we visit I will have to watch one of the other movies shot there to see what locations I recognize.

— Tracey Cullen, art director