Southport, NC

One of the stops we made on our East Coast Vacation in June of last year was the little town of Southport, North Carolina. We stopped there on our way from Wilmington to Myrtle Beach. This town has been a filming location for a number of films, including I Know What You Did Last Summer, A Walk to Remember, and the most recent Nicholas Sparks film, Safe Haven.

Southport is located right on the mouth of the Cape Fear River.

The movie Safe Haven was about to begin filming when we were there last year. They were in the process of building the shop in the movie, and we drove by it to check it out. There was security around, so we didn't stop, but we did see where it was being built which was pretty cool.

The movie is based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks and is about a young woman who moves to Southport in an attempt to run away from a horrific event in her past. She finds a new life there and it becomes a "safe haven" for her. She falls in love with a man whose wife had passed away, and who has two adorable kids. The woman is played by Julianne Hough, and the man is played by Josh Duhamel. Here's the trailer:

Trent and I saw it yesterday, and I loved it! It was even more amazing to see so much of the town we visited again. I decided to share some photos we took in Southport so you can see the quiet, lovely little town it is!

The countryside around Southport is beautiful - There are cute little ponds with lilly pads, and huge old trees with Spanish moss:

But then you get into the town of Southport, and all of its small-town, beachy charm....

This is the Fishy Fishy Cafe in Southport - we didn't eat there, but it makes an appearance in the movie.

We ate at a little restaurant by the water - I think it was the same place where Jamie and Landon had their date in A Walk to Remember. The building was a different restaurant then, and they ate outside on the patio - we couldn't, because it wasn't open during lunch time.

This was the church where Jamie's dad was a pastor in A Walk to Remember.

I loved all the seagulls everywhere. There were some people feeding them bread. It made me want to live here so I could just sit by the water and feed the seagulls all day.

This store is shown in the movie Safe Haven and Trent and I went inside. The little downtown of Southport is so cute. There were lots of stores like this. We went into all the antique shops and saw lots of goodies...

Like this framed art print of the Outer Banks. I wanted to take it home, but I passed.

I loved this alleyway Trent and I went down. We saw it from a distance, and it sparkled. I wondered why. Then we got closer and saw that there were shells everywhere in the concrete.

 This was around the area they filmed Safe Haven. You can see Fishy Fishy from here.

I loved the Boardwalk and overlook. This was another location that was shown in A Walk to Remember. It was just so peaceful.

So that's Southport! It's such a charming little town. Even though we just passed through one afternoon, we still loved it. Again, I recommend seeing Safe Haven...it made me tear up like most Nicholas Sparks movies do, and it was just a beautiful story!