Safe Haven....Southport, NC

 When looking for new places to visit music and movies have a big influence on me. It's fascinating to me to visit these places that were made famous by a singer, book, or movie. I've had the opportunity to visit places where some of the Nicholas Sparks movies were filmed. The Notebook (to come with a later post, it deserves a post of it's own!) and Safe Haven are two of my favorites.

Safe Haven was set to premiere on February 14th, 2013. As a North Carolina native and knowing the movie was filmed just a few hours from me in Southport, I couldn't help but use this as an opportunity for a nice day trip. We decided to make it a girls trip-- my mama, grandma, and sisters. We were able to sight see around the town and then went to the local theater to see the movie premiere!

We started our day in Southport visiting the little shops downtown. Such a quaint small town located right at the water's edge. Bull Frog Corner is the perfect shop with a variety of items and just fun things to look at. We really just wanted to get the "feel" of the town and where the movie was set to be. They also have a visitor center that had some props and items from the movie. Safe Haven was one of many movies that was filmed in Southport, so you will get to see those at the visitor center also.

After a morning of shopping and sight seeing, we made our way to Fishy Fishy Cafe. We had the best lunch and our waiter was so eager to share details about the movie and cast. He said Julianne Hough (Katie) would eat at the cafe during filming. 

 

This restaurant is not far from where some of the set for the movie was filmed. A temporary building was put along the shore beside the cafe(what would have been Alex's store)... however it was burned at the end of the movie, so no longer there. You will still see the house where Alex (Josh Duhamel) lived.Shortly after lunch we made our way to "Surf Cinemas" the local movie theater in Southport. It was a big crowd! As you can imagine, being in the town where the actual movie was filmed on premiere day. It was such a cool experience. Some of the locals played as extras, so during the movie you could hear them say "Oh hey look there I am!" or "There's so and so!" 

If you like quaint little towns that have a big meaning or have been made famous by something.... add Southport, North Carolina to your list!

Fishy Fishy Cafe- https://www.fishyfishycafe.com

https://downtownsouthport.org

https://cityofsouthport.com/community-relations-department/#visitors-center--museum