JeepGirl Travels

Hollywood visits North Carolina

While traveling around lake Santeelah, I learned that several movies have been filmed around the area.  In "The Fugitive", Harrison Ford jumped from the Cheoah dam just a few miles up 129 from where I was staying.  The bridge seen in the movie as the helicopter hovers over the water is the end on the Tail of the Dragon run on highway 129.

The famous train crash was filmed in Dillsboro, NC using the Great Smokey Mountain Railway.  I took the train ride from Dillsboro to Bryson city and the train passes right by where the trains crashed.  The rusting hulks are still there!

In Bryson City, I saw the rail crossing where Harrison Ford drives in the stolen ambulance as he heads out to the road to nowhere.

As I was riding the train, the conductor told me that another movie had been filmed using the train car I was on.  A movie I had never heard of called "My Fellow Americans."  I watched that one when I got home and recognized my seat on the train and many other sites along the way. 

The movie "Nell" with Jodie Foster was filmed on Fontana lake and in Robbinsville.  I have visited the set cabin in years past but I was told that it is no longer there now.  Snider's general store where the shopping scene was filmed is still in operation in Robbinsville.  This store is a trip back in time and a must see in Robbinsville.  If you like vintage clothing, I think some of the stuff they have on the racks may have been there since the 50's.

While at Fontana I spotted another famous movie spot.  Remember the final crash scene in "Thunder Road" where the bootlegger gets electrocuted as he crashes into some strange transformers on the ground?  Well, they are still right by the road near Fontana village.

A little further east, The Last of the Mohicans was filmed at Chimney Rock, NC.  They climbed up this rock in one scene.

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