The Summer I Turned Pretty filming locations

The Prime Video series The Summer I Turned Pretty has become one of their biggest hits. But is it actually filmed in the North Carolina town it’s supposedly set in?

Based on the novels by Jenny Han, The Summer I Turned Pretty follows Belly (Lola Tung) as she travels with her family to their summer beach house in Cousins Beach, North Carolina. It’s a good bit for Belly as she reunites with her brothers and makes a few new friends. Before she knows it, she’s involved in a complex love triangle while various family secrets come to light.

The show has been a huge hit as viewers love the love triangles and lush settings in this fun beach town. The books state it’s set in Cape Cod, which would mean filming more in the Northeast. So where is it actually filmed?

Where was The Summer I Turned Pretty filmed?

While Cousins Beach is fictional, the show uses a real town for its setting. It’s Wilmington, North Carolina, often referred to as “Hollywood East” as it’s been used for scores of movies and TV shows like Dawson’s Creek, One Tree Hill and Scream 5. 

The show uses various locations, as the “Welcome to Cousins Beach” sign was actually filmed in nearby Southport. Carolina Beach, Kure Beach, and Wrightsville Beach are all used for beach scenes and are perfect for the fun locales. Several beach scenes were filmed at the Fort Fisher State Recreation Area.

Obviously, filming in North Carolina meant that the producers had to use fake snow for a couple of scenes set in wintertime. Also, while the Fisher Family home is a lavish mansion on a golf course, the interiors were filmed on a soundstage at Screen Gem Studios in Wilmington. The Cape Fear Country Club is used for the show’s country club, although some dance scenes were filmed at a local high school.

Several actual Wilmington shops were used for Beach Cousins’ stores, while the marina is also at Cape Fear. Notably, the Fat Pelican bar is a real place on the boardwalk on Carolina Beach. For the episode of the gang going to the boardwalk, the producers used Carolina Beach Boardwalk for the exterior shots and Jungle Rapids Family Fun Park for many of the interior shots.

The University of North Carolina Wilmington stood in for Brown University, while a few bars like the Rooster & the Crow and Hells’ Kitchen are real Wilmington bars. Thus, The Summer I Turned Pretty may be nowhere near Cape Cod but uses its North Carolina locations pretty well.

The Summer I Turned Pretty is streaming on Prime Video.