Since its release in 2016, Stranger Things has captured global attention, cementing its status as one of Netflix’s most popular series. The highly anticipated Season 5 has heightened excitement for the series finale and sparked a surge in Stranger Things tours. Though the fictional town of Hawkins is a creation of the show, you can still discover its real-life inspiration.

Most fans are aware that the show is set in Georgia, but the specific locations span the entire state, with later seasons expanding to international settings. If you’re wondering where was Stranger Things filmed, we’ll break down the filming locations season by season, including the currently airing Season 5.

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Table of Contents

Stranger Things Filming Locations
Where Was Stranger Things Season 5 Filmed
Where Was Stranger Things Season 4 Filmed
Where Was Stranger Things Season 3 Filmed
Where Was Stranger Things Season 2 Filmed
Where Was Stranger Things Season 1 Filmed
How to Visit Filming Locations

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Stranger Things Filming Locations

While the show is set in the fictional midwestern town of Hawkins, Indiana, the production team found its perfect backdrop in the American South. Georgia serves as the primary hub for the series. The state offers that perfect blend of small-town charm, dense forests, and 1980s aesthetic that the Duffer Brothers needed.

• Hawkins: In reality, it’s a composite of several different cities, including Atlanta, Jackson, East Point, and Stockbridge.

• Interior Scenes: Most were filmed at EUE/Screen Gems Studios in Atlanta.

To give you a detailed look at the specific Stranger Things filming locations, we’ll start by diving into the final season.

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Where Was Stranger Things Season 5 Filmed

With the airing of episodes 1 through 4 of the final season, we have been able to confirm several key locations.

The “Squawk” Radio Station

One of the new locations introduced in Season 5 is a radio station called “The Squawk” (WSQK 94.5 FM). Unlike many other locations that repurpose existing buildings, this appears to be a set built specifically for the show. It replicates the actual WPTF radio station building located in Cary, North Carolina.

🎞️The Scene: This location appears in storylines where members relay messages and formulate plans.

📍Location: Chattahoochee Hills / Palmetto, GA area

New Macedonia Baptist Church

The church is one of Georgia’s landmarks and appears as part of the town of Hawkins in the fifth season of Stranger Things.

🎞️The Scene: The background that appears in the upside-down world where Nancy and her group are.

📍Location: 945 Cedar Creek Road, Newnan, Georgia

Turnbow Mansion

This mansion stands out like a sore thumb in Hawkins, being the newest addition to the town in Season 5 and playing a pivotal role in the plot.

🎞️The Scene: The team devised a plan to take Derek with them and track down a Demogorgon.

📍Location: The house is located in Smoke Rise Country Club in Stone Mountain, Georgia, while the interior was constructed on a stage at EUE/Screen Gems Studios in Atlanta.

Oglethorpe University

As children grow, their environment changes, and the school setting must evolve accordingly. This location features Dustin’s scenes, characterized by ornate Gothic architecture.

🎞️The Scene: The current scenario has not yet appeared. But the gothic architecture of Oglethorpe University makes it an ideal stand-in for a prestigious institution or perhaps a new government facility. Its stone facades and fortress-like appearance blend well with the darker tone of the final season.

📍Location: 4484 Peachtree Rd NE, Brookhaven, GA

Where Was Stranger Things Season 4 Filmed

The fourth season expanded the series’ universe, featuring richer settings and filming locations, including New Mexico and Lithuania. This meant the film locations for Stranger Things had to expand drastically.

Lukiškės Prison

The Russian prison where Hopper was imprisoned in Season 4 was not a set built by the production team, but an actual historical prison, lending the scene an added layer of authenticity. The prison existed for over a century before closing just before filming began. The cold, imposing stone walls and snow-covered courtyard are entirely authentic.

Today, it has been transformed into a cultural center offering guided tours, musical events, and even a bar. You can walk through the very corridors Hopper once walked.

🎞️The Scene: The prison scene appears in multiple episodes throughout Season 4, primarily involving Hopper, Joyce, and Murray.

📍Location: Vilnius, Lithuania

Stone Mountain Cemetery

The somber location featured in Season 4 also appears in Season 1, serving as the Hawkins Cemetery, the final resting place for departed characters.

🎞️The Scene: Max read the letter at Billy’s grave and at the burial site of Barbara.

📍Location: Stone Mountain, GA

Lenora Hills High School 

The Byers family moved to sunny California to escape their past, but trouble followed them. This is a fictional California high school, while in reality, it is El Dorado High School.

Another key filming location in Albuquerque was the scene where Eleven and Mike are at the roller rink. The shoot took place at Skate-O-Mania in Albuquerque.

🎞️The Scene: In Season 4, Eleven, Will, and Jonathan attend the school, where Eleven faces bullying.

📍Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico

The Creel House 

The central mystery of Season 4 revolved around the Creel family and their terrifying Victorian home. This provides us with relevant background information about Vecna, which resurfaces again in Season 5.

The Claremont House. This historic bed and breakfast was transformed into the abandoned, spider-filled lair of Vecna. While the interiors were mostly recreated on soundstages to allow for special effects, the exterior is a very real, very beautiful Gothic Revival home.

🎞️The Scene: The house appears in multiple scenes throughout Season 4, including Henry’s childhood and in the Upside Down.

📍Location: E 10th St, Rome, GA

Where Was Stranger Things Season 3 Filmed

The Season 3 aesthetic shifts toward bright neon lights, swimming pools, and a massive new shopping mall that dominates the entire town. These superficially bright and cheerful scenes actually conceal an underlying crisis.

Starcourt Mall

The production team took over a largely vacant wing of the real Gwinnett Place Mall. They rebuilt roughly 40 storefronts, stocking them with vintage products and period-accurate signage for stores like The Gap, Sam Goody, and Waldenbooks. This location also served as the core setting for Season 3. Although most of the sets have been dismantled, you can still tour the exterior and some interior areas.

🎞️The Scene: It dominated most of the scenes in Season 3, including the Scoops Ahoy Ice Cream shop where Robin and Steve worked, and the battle against Mind Flaye.

📍Location: Gwinnett Place Mall, Duluth, Georgia.

Hawkins Community Pool

Billy Hargrove worked as a lifeguard at this important location in Season 3. It’s a public community pool, and if you visit during the summer, it looks remarkably similar to what you see on TV.

🎞️The Scene: Most scenes involving Billy and his encounter with Heather Holloway

📍Location: South Bend Park, Atlanta, GA

The Fun Fair

The climactic scenes of the season took place at the Mayor’s Fourth of July Fun Fair. This wasn’t a permanent amusement park. The crew set up the rides and carnival booths in a large open field in Griffin specifically for the shoot.

🎞️The Scene: This is a scene from the July 4th celebrations, featuring many key characters.

📍Location: Griffin, Georgia

Where Was Stranger Things Season 2 Filmed

Season 2 expanded on the lore of the Upside Down and introduced us to new hangouts like the arcade. However, most scenes utilized the same locations as the first season.

The Palace Arcade

A former laundromat on Church Street. The production team painted the exterior in those distinct orange and yellow hues. While it isn’t an arcade in real life, the building is still there and is a favorite photo op for fans. Next door, the building used for “Family Video” stands as well.

🎞️The Scene: The boys spent their coins here trying to beat MADMAX’s high score on Dig Dug.

📍Location: Douglasville, Georgia

Merrill’s Pumpkin Patch

This is a real family farm. You can visit it, and yes, they have a corn maze and pumpkin patch activities in the fall. It is also where they filmed scenes for Hopper’s cabin in the woods.

🎞️The Scene: The rotting pumpkin patch was one of the first signs that the Mind Flayer was back.

📍Location: Sleepy Hollow Farm, Powder Springs, GA

Hawkins High School

Continuing the educational environment of the small town, this high school reflects the characters’ growth and the evolving social dynamics. The exterior features authentic school architecture, while the interior classrooms and activity hall sections were reconstructed in a studio for greater filming flexibility. The school was demolished in 2024.

🎞️The Scene: School hallways, assemblies, and the Snow Ball dance

📍Location: Former Patrick Henry High School, Stockbridge, GA

Hawkins Public Library

A typical small-town library serves as the hub for researching Hawkins’ past. This building is a real-life location, arranged to resemble a library.

🎞️The Scene: Nancy and Jonathan researching Hawkins Lab records

📍Location: Butts County Probate Court, Jackson, GA

Hawkins Police Station

The traditional town police station features exterior shots filmed at an actual municipal building, while exteriors, including interrogation rooms and offices, were constructed on a set designed for controlled lighting and camera angles.

🎞️The Scene: Hopper investigating the tunnels and Hawkins Lab

📍Location: Old City Hall, Douglasville, GA

Where Was Stranger Things Season 1 Filmed

This is where it all began. The filming locations for Season 1 set the tone for the entire series’ style. Many of its filming locations for Stranger Things are also the most visited by fans.

Hawkins National Laboratory

The stark institutional exterior stands in stark contrast to the quiet suburban town, emphasizing secrecy and danger. In reality, the exterior scenes were filmed at the actual historic building, the former Georgia Mental Health Institute, while the interior scenes were mostly constructed sets built by the production team to accommodate complex laboratory and inverted world settings.

🎞️The Scene: Eleven grew up in a place where he was confined and subjected to experiments.

📍Location: Emory University Briarcliff Campus, Atlanta, GA

Downtown Hawkins

This small-town square embodies the everyday life of Hawkins. Its brick storefronts, sidewalks, and nostalgic street layout perfectly capture the 1980s Midwestern feel. Most of this is a real town square in Jackson, GA.

🎞️The Scene: Melvald’s General Store, Hawk Theatre exterior, Joyce’s daily routine.

📍Location: Downtown Jackson, Jackson, GA

The Wheeler House

This is the home of the show’s main character, Mike, appearing throughout Seasons 1 through 5 as a crucial key location. This is a private residence in a quiet neighborhood, identical in appearance to the one featured in the drama.

🎞️The Scene: The boys are playing Dungeons & Dragons in the basement.

📍Location: Piney Wood Lane, East Point, GA

Benny’s Burgers

A small roadside restaurant where Eleven first encountered other humans. This restaurant is a real establishment serving all three meals.

🎞️The Scene: Where Eleven meets Benny.

📍Location: Tiffany’s Kitchen, Lithia Springs, GA

Bellwood Quarry

Known as the Bellwood Quarry, this massive granite quarry has been seen in The Walking Dead and The Hunger Games. The city of Atlanta has since transformed the area into Westside Park, a beautiful public green space.

🎞️The Scene: This is where the fake body of Will Byers was found and where the kids hid Eleven.

📍Location: Westside Park, Atlanta, GA

How to Visit Filming Locations

As a Stranger Things fan, visiting real-life locations is a dream come true. Check out these tips to make your journey even more fulfilling.

• Respect Private Property: Many locations, like the Wheeler house, the Sinclair house, and the Harrington house, are private homes where real people live. Do not trespass, do not walk on their lawns, and do not knock on their doors. Admire from the street.

• Start in Jackson: Jackson, GA, is the best place to start. It feels the most like Hawkins. You can walk around the town square, see the library exterior, and grab a coffee.

• Check Access: Places like the Quarry are now public parks (Westside Park), which is great. However, the Lab (Emory Briarcliff) is private university property and often has security. Stick to the public spots to avoid trouble.

• Take a Tour: Several companies in Atlanta offer guided Stranger Things tours. They handle the driving and know exactly where to park to get the best photos without disturbing locals.

FAQ

Can you visit Stranger Things filming locations?

Yes, you absolutely can. Many of the locations are public businesses like Tiffany’s Kitchen, public parks, or city streets. However, keep in mind that interior sets like the Starcourt Mall usually don’t exist as permanent attractions.

What town was Stranger Things filmed in?

Stranger Things was not filmed in just one town. It was filmed primarily in Jackson, Atlanta, East Point, Stockbridge, and Douglasville, Georgia. Each town forms part of Hawkins: Jackson represents the downtown setting, East Point represents the community setting, and Atlanta represents the larger industrial or forest setting.

What mall was used in Stranger Things?

The Starcourt Mall scenes were filmed at Gwinnett Place Mall in Duluth, Georgia. The production team completely retrofitted a wing of this dying mall to look like a pristine 1985 shopping center. While the set is gone, the mall structure remains.