The House Where Gump Lived South Carolina Plantation Serves as Movie Setting (2024)
Peggy Gandy| Oklahoman
BEAUFORT, S.C. - Thousands of people have taken a journey to Greenbow, Ala., with Forrest Gump since the movie opened July 5 and grossed more than $109 million in its first 19 days.
The story of this simple man who leads an extraordinary life in post-World War II America begins and ends at the home where Forrest (Tom Hanks) grew up with his mother (Sally Field).
The Gumps' white two-story house wasn't really in Alabama. It was constructed on an 8,000-acre plantation in South Carolina just for the movie and now it is gone.
The massive oak tree that served as a playground for Forrest and his childhood friend, Jenny, (Robin Wright) grows on this same South Carolina plantation. Later in the movie, this tree shaded Jenny's grave. There actually is a grave under the tree, not for a movie character, but for a special bird dog named Rosey.
Those rice paddies during the Vietnam scenes aren't in Southeast Asia, but are on the same plantation.
Dr. Harry Gregorie, Charleston, S.C., didn't know of Forrest Gump 14 months ago. However, he is familiar with the plantation, 30 miles north of Beaufort. Gregorie and his three partners own the land that Paramount Pictures leased to film the movie.
Paramount wanted to use the plantation's once-thriving rice fields, a site to build the house and land to plant cotton, tobacco and corn crops.
Things changed on this quiet, peaceful plantation at 5:30 one May 1993 morning when 20 trucks and some 30 workers arrived to build the house. Two months later, it was ready, Gregorie said. All the rooms were not complete, but moviegoers don't see the unfinished areas.
The pre-Civil War era house was built to reflect a house that had aged 100 years, even down to the cracked, painted foundation, Gregorie said.
Paramount officials tried to give the house to the partners as payment for repairs they had done on the property. The owners disagreed on keeping the house, so the movie people tore it down when the filming was completed.
"I wanted to keep the house, and I'm sorry I didn't," Gregorie said. "I told the partners I should have them arrested for lunacy. "BIOG:NAME:
5 Bluff Plantation, 3547 Combahee Rd, Yemassee, South Carolina . , site of the Gump
Gump
Forrest Gump is a 1994 American comedy-drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Eric Roth. It is an adaptation of the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom and stars Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson, and Sally Field.
Although most of this Academy Award-winning classic was set in Alabama, much of the filming took place in and around Beaufort. The University of South Carolina-Beaufort campus was transformed into Gump Medical Center through the magic of CGI. Scenes of Forrest cutting grass were filmed at the Basil Green Complex.
All university scenes were shot at the University of Southern California, and the bench, sitting on that, Gump tells the story of his life, was set in Savannah, Georgia. The setting is used to tell the story and the reason is it is never one consistent setting because Forrest in out on a journey.
The Gump family home set was built along the Combahee River near Yemassee, South Carolina, and the nearby land was used to film Curran's home as well as some of the Vietnam scenes. Over 20 palmetto trees were planted to improve the Vietnam scenes.
No, it is not a real city. A quick google shows that it is not. Most of the film was shot in South Carolina, and according to Wikipedia and it's sources, downtown Greenbow was filmed in Varnville, South Carolina.
This touching scene is shot at Bluff Plantation on a beautiful private road located at the picturesque 3547 Combahee Road, Yemassee. Visitors wishing to see this road can cycle for an hour from Yemassee Square, following the US-17 ALT N to the cut-off on Combahee Road. If you're driving, you can get there faster.
Much of the movie was shot in Beaufort, SC, one of the prettiest towns in America. That includes one of the most iconic shots of Forrest's great run across America, across a long graceful bridge spanning a sleepy, peaceful river.
5 Bluff Plantation, 3547 Combahee Rd, Yemassee, South Carolina . , site of the Gump boarding house and Jenny's farmhouse where she lived in as a child. Both built for the filming, and torn down as the film was completed.
It would have been extraordinary if Groom had created the character with autism in mind and all evidence points to the idea that he simply intended Forrest to be a low-IQ individual stumbling through some of recent history's most historic events.
Bluff Plantation comparison images by Houses Now and Then website. The Gump House is no longer standing. It was built specifically for the movie. Since it was hastily built (not to code) it was dismantled after production.
Forrest asks Jenny and Forrest Jr. to live with him, and Jenny proposes to Forrest. The two marry in the backyard. After some time of living together as a family, Jenny dies at age 32. Her illness is never explicitly stated, though screenwriter Eric Roth confirmed in a 2019 interview that she died of AIDS.
Forrest Gump made Chippewa Square famous with its bench scenes, where Forrest waited for the bus. They actually used at least four fiberglass benches while filming these scenes on the square. One of which was donated to the city and moved into the Savannah History Museum.
A segment of 1994's Forrest Gump, starring Tom Hanks, was filmed at the Biltmore Estate. The movie was a huge hit, grossing almost $700 million worldwide. A number of scenes of the 1993 movie version of the hit 1960s TV show, The Fugitive, were shot in Western North Carolina.
Jenny's death in Forrest Gump is left ambiguous, but it is widely accepted that she likely died from HIV/AIDS due to the setting and her lifestyle. The scrapped sequel to Forrest Gump revealed that Jenny died from late-stage HIV, which would have been passed on to their son, Forrest Jr.
The bench that Hanks/Forrest sat on was actually a movie prop that has since been placed in the Savannah History Museum. But the location of the bench for the movie in Chippewa Square is still a popular spot for photographs.
Forrest Gump made Chippewa Square famous with its bench scenes, where Forrest waited for the bus. They actually used at least four fiberglass benches while filming these scenes on the square. One of which was donated to the city and moved into the Savannah History Museum.
During one scene where Forrest Gump is running across America, he was actually running along the road which leads to The Inn on Biltmore Estate® and Antler Hill Village & Winery!
It took us about 10 minutes to wait for enough people to get out of the way and for the cars to not drive up on us. Located north of Monument Valley on US Scenic Highway 163, Forrest Gump Point is the iconic spot where Forrest ended his epic run in the 1994 film, with views of Monument Valley behind him.
Introduction: My name is Patricia Veum II, I am a vast, combative, smiling, famous, inexpensive, zealous, sparkling person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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