since i am a huge fan of the walking dead (you never would have guessed that, huh?), i decided to take myself on a 'stalking' dead tour of the atlanta, georgia area where they film the show. i visited atlanta, grantville, and senoia (the fictional town of woodbury). using a website i found on the net, www.walkingdeadlocations.com, i was able to put together quite a nice little tour for myself. a big shout out to the gent who runs that website for making my (non)life much easier, for he did most of the ground work and all i did was pick which places i was most interested in seeing and plot them all out on google maps. be sure to visit his site if you are a fan, he updates it often. my excursion overall was quite satisfying, but i did run into a few snaffus so i do have a few tips for you if you plan on visiting the area...
1. make sure you stop by rick's house. it's in the grant park section of atlanta (817 cherokee ave.). it's on a road that was quite busy on my visit, so i only had time to jump out and snap a few pictures. the house is a private residence so i wouldn't linger out front too long and no peeking in the windows, they don't like that! just up the block from rick's house is morgan's house (you'll remember morgan as the guy who's son, duane, cracked rick in the face with a shovel?) i did a drive by (376 ormond st.) but i wasn't able to snap a photo because they were having a yard sale in the front yard...what are the chances, right?? then just another block over is where rick stumbled upon the zombie woman (his first zombie sighting!)...i do believe they refer to this particular zombie as 'bicycle girl'. this is also a section of grant park and pretty easy to find.
2. grantville was my favorite town to visit. it's the site of the 'clear' episode (season 3). small and quaint and you can get a free tour of all twd filming locations from the mayor, who is very friendly and personable. there's a store aptly named 'zombie geeks', that had some fun souveniers and they also have a page on facebook if you are interested in checking them out. above the store is the loft where morgan made his home in the episode. the mayor informed us that after filming wrapped up, amc came along and put everything back the way they found it, so the mayor decided it would be a great idea to set the room up the way morgan had it, down to the maps painted on the walls. i took the tour, got my picture taken with the mayor (he insisted!!), signed the guest book, and grabbed a souvenier at the shoppe because it's nice to support the locals. if you visit, make sure you tell the mayor i said hi!!
3. if you plan on visiting the site where the group made camp at the end of season 2 (elders mill falls on elders mill road), it's gated off because it's on private property. have no fear though, there's a phone number posted on the gate and the owner's are quite happy to show you the property for a small fee. it's worth it. the place is amazing and the owner and his wife are super friendly. they will even take your photo and post it on their facebook page (which i did, of course!) they did try to sell me a tee shirt and a zombie rock (it is literally a rock with a zombie face painted on it, funny, but no).
4. newnan, georgia is where i found the abandonded daycare center that maggie and daryl swipe some baby formula from (and also, dinner according to daryl). this place is owned by the sonrise baptist church and is actually abandoned which made it super creepy (the fact that it was raining at the time of my visit didn't help matters either...or did it?). 6 shenandoah blvd is the address where you'll find this sad little playground. i climbed the monkey bars, took the swings for a spin and then lit out of there before i got kicked out (private property folks!) also of interest in newnan is the zombie fighting arena (caldwell tanks) found at 57 broad street...this area was gated off and we couldn't get in but you can see the area from the sidewalk and grab a picture or two, so no worries. while in newnan, make sure you drop by the oaks inn (1057 hwy 29 s), which is also abandoned. this is the site where merle tied michonne to a post and hot wired a car (and almost biting it)...i only did a quick stop here because there appeared to be squatters living there, along with a cat, and since i wasn't interested in purchasing any crack, i moved on rather quickly.
5. senoia, georgia...aka...the fictional town of woodbury. don't plan to visit on a sunday, unless you will be there later in the afternoon. nothing is open before 1pm. on the flip side, the place is pretty dead (haha, see what i did there??) on a sunday morning so i got some great pictures of the town looking deserted. i was disappointed that they had already burned down the governor's house for a future episode just before my visit <insert sad face here> i peeked in some of the shop windows, there was even one called the woodbury shoppe (specializing in zombie items, go figure) and i wish i could have stayed longer so i could go inside, but alas, i was on a tight schedule so window shopping had to suffice. next time, next time.
6. the esco feed mill is close to senoia (located in haralson, georgia) and i highly recommend taking a gander at the place. fantastic photo ops. deserted. spooky. it has 'zombie' written all over it (figuratively, not literally). you'll recognize it from the opening credits of season 1 and also again in season 3 when rick and the govenor have their secret meeting and a rousing game of 'i can kill more zombies than you' took place. the owners of the property also offer a tour (for a small fee), but again, it was sunday morning so there wasn't a soul in sight (i do believe everyone was in church, with the exception of me, apparently) so i skipped the tour, but got some great selfies with the mill.
since i took this trip in august of 2013, the only sights i hit were from seasons 1 thru 3. it was fun and a very interesting/friendly place to visit. be sure to visit my facebook page www.facebook.com/RoamingZombieGnome to see more fun photos of my trip. if you have any questions or info you'd like to throw my way, i'd love to hear from you! on to my next adventure...
