Step into a Hallmark movie: 7 real-life Christmas movie sets you can visit in NC (2024)

Heather Leah, WRAL multiplatform producer

Have you ever wanted to walk through the twinkling lights, dazzling tinsel and snowy charm of a real-life Christmas movie?

It turns out, that holiday magic isn't too far away: North Carolina's small-town charm has made it an idyllic filming location from the mountains to the coast. Most recently, the enchanting Biltmore Estate became the latest Christmas movie set in NC – but it's far from the first. From the pillared white Bellamy Mansion, to the natural majesty of Greenfield Park, to the classic cobbled St. Andrews-Covenant Presbyterian Church – there are many local holiday movie sets you can visit during your Christmas break.

So grab a cup of cocoa, and let's chart a course through North Carolina's own holiday wonderlands.

1. Christmas in Conway: Walk through Greenfield Lake Park in Wilmington

It's easy to see whyChristmas in Conwaychose Greenfield Lake Park as a filming location. The antique cypress trees growing from the sparkling lake look like they're already dressed up for Christmas – with fluted trunks like twirling skirts and elegant veils of moss dangling from their branches.

The Hallmark Hall of Fame movie stars familiar faces like Mandy Moore and Mary-Louise Parker. Parker plays a terminally ill woman, whose husband decides to build her the perfect final Christmas gift: A Ferris wheel right in their own backyard, reminiscent of the one they rode when he first proposed.

Although the movie is supposed to take place in Conway, South Carolina, a large portion of the filming took place in a Wilmington neighborhood: Forest Hills. During filming, a real-life, 50-foot Ferris wheel towered over the neighborhood, providing a spectacle for many visitors.

While the Ferris wheel is gone, passersby can see the house where the giant prop once stood – or take a long walk through Greenfield Lake Park, which also shows up in the movie.

2. U.S.S. Christmas: Holiday magic on the North Carolina Battleship

While many holiday movies feature rustic hotels and charming churches, the Hallmark Channel movieUSS Christmasgoes a different direction: Christmas on a battleship.

Filmed in 2020 in Wilmington, the movie tells the story of a newspaper reporter (Jen Lilley) who falls in love with a Navy pilot (Trevor Donovan) while investigating a mystery in the ship's archive room.

It features scenes shot on the Battleship North Carolina – as well the Wilmington Railroad Museum, the Hannah Block Historic USO, Community Arts Center, the Forest Hills neighborhood and the Riverwalk.

A little movie magic secret: Crews were filming in heavy holiday sweaters in the middle of summer, and the 'snow' that filled the Forest Hills neighborhood wasn't real, but biodegradable material that dissolved with water.

3. One Christmas: A real-life holiday mystery rooted in Katherine Hepburn's final movie

Originally made for NBC, the TV movieOne Christmasis one for the history books – serving as the final television role for the iconic Katherine Hepburn, who was 87 at the time of filming in 1994. She passed away several years later.

Despite the historic milestone, the movie has no historic signage to mark the location of Hepburn's final scene. Jock Brandis, a Wilmington film veteran, is working to piece together the historic location of Hepburn's final scene, according to aninterview he did with Star News Online in 2020. According to him, the location has been forgotten by time, and he'd like to see the mystery solved – and given a historic marker for future generations to remember this important moment in Hollywood and Wilmington history.

He believes, he said in the interview, it may have been filmed in a house on the southside of downtown Wilmington or in a private historic home.

Hepburn isn't the only Hollywood icon inOne Christmas; Henry Winkler shares the screen. The movie is set in the 1930s in New Orleans and follows the story of a con-artist (Winkler) trying to pursue the niece of wealthy Cornelia Beaumont (Hepburn).

If you do want to visit a filming location from One Christmas, the white-pillared Bellamy Mansion. which shows up in the movie, is a lovely sight during the holidays.

4. A Biltmore Christmas: A historic estate that first opened on Christmas Eve, 1895

North Carolina's historic Biltmore Estate has always had a special connection to Christmas. The mansion was first opened to friends and family on Christmas Eve in 1895, and ever since then, the Banquet Hall Christmas Tree has served as a hallmark of the season.

"Biltmore’s beloved Christmas traditions are inspired by that very first Christmas celebration,"according to a timeline on the Biltmore's website, which says newspapers in 1900 reported a 40-foot tree, decorated with 500 electric lights and 500 dazzling ornaments. Employees each got a gift for themselves and each of their children.

Thousands of people travel from across the country to see the holiday decorations at Biltmore each year – making it the perfect place for Hallmark film crews to create a little movie magic for the holidays. Crews wereseen filming the new Hallmark film A Biltmore Christmas in January 2023. The film wasreleased this past Novemberto much fanfare and excitement from NC locals.

The movie follows a writer named Lucy as she's hired to write a script for a remake of a holiday movie. Upon joining a tour of the Biltmore grounds, she knocks an hourglass over and finds herself transported back in time to 1946. The mix of history, time travel and Christmas seems a perfect fit for the historic estate.

5. Christmas in Harmony: A classic cobblestone church from last century

Filmed along the historic backdrop of Front Street in Wilmington and in the century-old St. Andrews-Covenant Presbyterian Church, visiting the filming locations of Hallmark movieChristmas in Harmonyis a history-lover's holiday dream.

Shot using fake snow and sweltering Santa suits in the hot August sun, Hallmark's crews brought Christmas nearly six months early to the streets of Wilmington. Just as in several other holiday movies filmed in Wilmington, a Forest Hills home also played a role in the film.

The movie stars Ashleigh Murray – known for her role as Josie in Riverdale – as Harmony, who comes home for Christmas and sings in a holiday choir directed by her ex-boyfriend. Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child also brings music to the screen.

6. A Christmas Love Story (2019)

Set in New York City, but filmed right here in North Carolina, this Hallmark movie was shot in locations like Charlotte, Gastonia and Monroe.

So how do you make the Charlotte area look like New York? Crews filmed scenes inside the historic Standard Hardware building in Gastonia and outside city hall.

The movie features Broadway legend Kristin Chenoweth as a woman named Katherine, a former Broadway star-turned youth choir director who is asked to write a big holiday song for her students' Christmas Eve show.

With so many Christmas movies on this list filmed in Wilmington, it's fun to see a Hallmark holiday classic filmed in other parts of North Carolina.

7. Christmas at the Grey Horse Inn (2021)

The town of Tryon, NC celebrated two Christmas parades the yearChristmas at the Grey Horse Inncame to town.

For those who want to see the holiday sets in real life, crews filmed on Trade Street and at the Nest Artisan Market. The parade scene was filmed in front of Morris the Horse,according to the Tryon Daily Bulletin.

If you want to see some of the Christmas magic yourself, you can visit Morris the Horse. He's a beloved local landmark, who has represented Tryon since 1928.

"He is both a symbol of the community’s love of horses and a replica of an era gone by when wooden toy horses just like him were made in Tryon and shipped all over the country,"according to VisitNC.

The movie tells the story of a big city girl who falls in love with the small town of Tryon and the big heart of North Carolina.

© 2024 Copyright Capitol Broadcasting Company