Around Topsail, familiar places do not always stay in the background.
Over the years, Topsail Beach, Topsail High School, The Sailfish, Burgaw’s courthouse square, Watha, Atkinson, and nearby Wilmington have all shown up in movies and TV shows – sometimes standing in for places that were supposed to be far from Pender County.
Here are nine local and regional pop culture ties worth knowing the next time one of these spots looks familiar on screen.
Local Spots You May Recognize
- Topsail Beach in Dawson’s Creek
- Topsail High School and Burgaw in One Tree Hill
- The Sailfish as “Sonny’s” in Florida Man
- Wilmington and the Cape Fear Coast in The Summer I Turned Pretty
- Burgaw as Flatch in Welcome to Flatch
- Burgaw as Chester’s Mill in Under the Dome
- Watha in The Secret Life of Bees
- Atkinson in Sleepy Hollow
- Burgaw’s Courthouse Square in Tammy
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1. Topsail Beach in Dawson’s Creek
Dawson’s Creek may have been set in fictional Capeside, Massachusetts, but southeastern North Carolina did a lot of the work on screen.
The south end of Topsail Beach is one of the area’s best-known ties to the show, which aired from 1998 to 2003 and helped make Wilmington and the surrounding coast familiar to a generation of TV viewers.
There is also a very Topsail-specific detail here: local film-location notes point to the production working around sea turtle nesting concerns during beach filming.
2. Topsail High School and Burgaw in One Tree Hill
One Tree Hill is usually treated as a Wilmington show, but Hampstead and Pender County have their own connections.
Topsail High School’s gym has been tied to basketball scenes, giving locals a fun “I know that court” connection to one of the most recognizable teen dramas of the 2000s.
Burgaw also shows up in the broader One Tree Hill filming trail, adding another Pender County layer to the show’s local footprint.
3. The Sailfish as “Sonny’s” in Florida Man
In Netflix’s Florida Man, Sonny’s waterfront bar was filmed at The Sailfish at Marsh Creek Marina, giving Hampstead and Scotts Hill locals one of the easiest on-screen locations to recognize.
The marsh, marina, and tucked-away coastal setting made it a natural fit for the show.
It is the kind of scene that makes locals pause and ask, “Wait – is that The Sailfish?”
4. Wilmington and the Cape Fear Coast in The Summer I Turned Pretty
The Summer I Turned Pretty is more regional than Topsail-specific, but it belongs in this conversation.
The series filmed around Wilmington and nearby beach communities, sending fans looking for real-life “Cousins Beach” spots across the Cape Fear coast.
For Topsail-area readers, it is another reminder that the places we use for beach days, dinners, shopping trips, and quick Wilmington runs are also part of a larger coastal film map.
5. Burgaw as Flatch in Welcome to Flatch
Burgaw helped stand in for the fictional town of Flatch, with the Pender County Visitor Center and surrounding downtown area used during filming.
The show leaned into the kind of courthouse-square, small-town setting that Burgaw already has.
That is part of the appeal. Burgaw did not have to fake much.
6. Burgaw as Chester’s Mill in Under the Dome
Downtown Burgaw also stood in for Chester’s Mill, the fictional Maine town at the center of Stephen King’s Under the Dome.
The courthouse square and surrounding blocks gave the series an easy small-town backdrop with enough character to carry the setting.
For locals, it is another example of Burgaw quietly becoming one of the area’s most recognizable screen doubles.
7. Watha in The Secret Life of Bees
The Secret Life of Bees brought a major cast to Pender County, including Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Hudson, and Alicia Keys.
One of the most memorable local ties is a farmhouse in Watha that was painted pink for the film.
It is a quieter connection than a beach scene or downtown square, but it may be one of the most visually memorable.
8. Atkinson in Sleepy Hollow
The Fox series Sleepy Hollow also made use of Pender County’s older, rural settings.
An old schoolhouse in Atkinson has been tied to the production, including scenes that used the building’s vintage interior and surrounding landscape.
It is a good example of why film crews keep coming back to this area: within a short drive, they can find beaches, marshes, old schools, small towns, rural roads, and historic buildings.
9. Burgaw’s Courthouse Square in Tammy
Burgaw’s courthouse square appears in Tammy, the 2014 comedy starring Melissa McCarthy and Susan Sarandon.
The downtown setting adds to Burgaw’s surprisingly long list of screen appearances.
At this point, Burgaw may be one of the area’s most underrated backlots.
Did you spot one?
Were you an extra? Did you see crews filming around Topsail, Hampstead, Burgaw, Wilmington, or anywhere nearby? Or have you ever recognized a local place while watching a movie or show?
Why This Area Keeps Showing Up
The appeal is pretty simple: southeastern North Carolina can give a production beach towns, marinas, marshes, historic courthouses, old schools, small downtowns, rural roads, and busy coastal restaurants without moving far from Wilmington’s long-running film base.
That is what makes these connections fun. These are not just “filmed in North Carolina” credits. They are places locals drive past, eat at, went to school in, or recognize from a weekend trip through Pender County.
More Local Film Connections
This is not the full list. Pender County and the Wilmington area have been tied to plenty of other productions over the years, including I Know What You Did Last Summer, Good Behavior, Domestic Disturbance, Revolution, Idlewild, and more.
