The 1994 film Forrest Gump has become a beloved classic and pop culture phenomenon over the years. Though set in the fictional town of Greenbow, Alabama, much of the movie was actually filmed around Beaufort, South Carolina and other parts of the picturesque Lowcountry region. In particular, the scenes involving Forrest’s shrimp boat were shot in and around Lady’s Island and St. Helena Island.
One of the most memorable aspects of Forrest Gump is Forrest’s shrimping business he starts with his friend Bubba Bubba convincing Forrest to buy a shrimp boat leads to some of the most iconic scenes from the film taking place on the water So where exactly were these scenes filmed?
Lady’s Island Was Home Base for the Shrimp Boat
The shrimp boat used in the movie, named Jenny after Forrest’s childhood sweetheart, was docked along Lucy Creek on Lady’s Island for much of the filming. Located across the water from Beaufort, Lady’s Island offered the perfect lowcountry backdrop for Forrest’s adventures as a shrimp boat captain.
The specific dock that the Jenny was tied up at is located on the Coosaw Island side of Lucy Creek This served as the home base for the fictional Bubba Gump Shrimp Company seen in the film, The scenes of Forrest and Lt Dan aboard the Jenny hauling in huge catches of shrimp took place right on the creek,
Lucy Creek flows into the Beaufort River just north of downtown Beaufort, making it very convenient for filming locations in Beaufort as well. The crew was able to easily transport the shrimp boat to other areas around Beaufort via the river and surrounding waterways.
Nearby Fripp Island Housed the Shrimp Boat Too
While Lucy Creek was where most of the scenes featuring the shrimp boat were filmed, nearby Fripp Island also served as a location for the Jenny. Some scenes were shot with the boat docked along the marshy shores of the island with the sprawling wetland landscapes of the lowcountry coastline in the background.
Located just across the sound from Hunting Island, Fripp Island provided another picturesque and fitting spot to film the shrimping scenes. The quiet, natural beauty of the island evokes the feeling of remoteness and simplicity central to Forrest’s journey after buying the shrimp boat.
Port Royal Was Site of the Post-Hurricane Shrimp Catch
One vital sequence involving the shrimp boat was filmed at the Port Royal Ports Authority Terminal, which is located along the Beaufort River in Port Royal. This is the scene where Forrest and Lt. Dan take the Jenny out shrimping after a major hurricane rolls through the area.
To simulate the high winds and rain of the hurricane, the crew brought in a jet engine provided by the South Carolina Air National Guard. The powerful engine was mounted on a platform and aimed at the shrimp boat to recreate the intense storm winds on film.
All of the shrimp caught in the nets after the hurricane, which Forrest and Lt. Dan then sold directly from their boat, was provided by Gay Fish Company on St. Helena Island. The company supplied over 6,000 pounds of fresh local shrimp for the iconic scene.
Legacy of the Film’s Lowcountry Locations
The lasting popularity of Forrest Gump continues to draw visitors to the picturesque lowcountry areas where it was filmed nearly 30 years ago. Fans of the movie enjoy exploring the actual shrimp boat locations and recreating some of the memorable scenes.
Lady’s Island and Beaufort regularly host “Run Forrest Run” races that finish under the Woods Memorial Bridge where Tom Hanks’ epic run across the country ended in the film. And you can even dine on fresh local shrimp at the real Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurant on the downtown Beaufort waterfront.
The Lowcountry region’s natural charm and connection to Forrest Gump ensure that people will continue flocking to the area to walk in the footsteps of an American movie icon. Forrest and Bubba’s shrimping adventures will live on as an integral part of Beaufort’s coastal scenery and culture.
Forrest Gump: Fun Facts
- Jimmy Stanley, a local Beaufort shrimper, used to own Forrest’s shrimp boat, which he lovingly calls “Jenny.” The boat is now being shown off at the Planet Hollywood restaurant in Downtown Disney, which is part of Orlando’s Disney World.
- Bubbas mother was played by Marleena Smalls of Beaufort. The movie also had scenes with Marleena’s choir group, “The Hallelujah Singers.”
- The movie Forrest Gump was filmed with Deborah McTeer from Varnville. As she talks about it, “After an audition in Charleston, I was cast as one of the bench-sitters (the one with the little kid) to whom Forrest tells his story in Forrest Gump.” It took me a week to film the scenes at the bus stop in Savannah, Georgia. That being said, we met the director, the producers, and Tom Hanks before the movie started. I was struck by how genuinely friendly Hanks was. He shook hands and said, “Hi, I’m Tom Hanks,” to each of us, even though we all knew who he was. ” .
- Tracy Mattox Littlejohn of Georgetown talks about what it was like to work on the Forrest Gump movie set. When the movie was being shot at White Hall Plantation, just south of Charleston, I filled in for Robin Wright. I remember Tom Hanks giving me a bottle of Nitro Cola. He had it flown in for him because he said it was his favorite. I kept it for years a souvenir from the filming. Of course, no one at the time thought the movie would become such a big deal in pop culture. The working title was Through the Eyes of Forrest Gump. It was an amazing experience. Lots of very fond memories. ” .
- Ruby Godley from Beaufort saw lots of scenes being filmed, some of which were on Lucy Creek. To quote her, “All of Forrest’s shrimp from his hurricane trip came from Gay Seafood Company on St. Helena Island. In the movie, Bob and Hilda Gay Upton’s shrimp boat Miss Hilda is seen docked at the dock while Forrest is giving his boat a name. When Bubba talks about all the ways to cook shrimp, he also talks about shrimp burgers. People who worked on the movie with Tom Hanks and his crew loved the shrimp burgers from Bob and Hilda’s Shrimp Shack. ” .
- When asked to be an extra in a movie, Jeff Searcy turned down the offer while eating at Berts in Fairfax. This was his big chance to become famous. Jeff told the man no thanks because he didn’t know what Forrest Gump was and “thought it must be a B movie.” Jeff still feels bad about what he did because he thinks Forrest Gump is “the BEST movie I have ever seen.” Jeff then said, “One of the CSX workers who helped build the railroad crossing in Varnville, SC, said it cost $50,000 to put in old-style rail road crossings from the 1950s.” No one knows how much money was used to fix up the whole town. ” .
- Loren Fink was asked to be an extra while she was in South Carolina for the summer to visit family. “I was an extra in the famous scene on the school bus where Forrest meets Jenny for the first time.” Because of how they set up their cameras, I was right in the middle of Forrest and Jenny as they talked. I think they filmed that on two different school buses. One that could really move, and one that didn’t have wheels or axles and was pulled by a truck on a trailer. Anyone who saw me thought I might be a good stand-in for Forrest because I had dark hair and looked a bit like him, but I was too tall. I was the oldest person on the bus; I had just turned 14. ” .
- Warren Griffith of Greenville says, “Another interesting fact you might be interested in is that my brother Steven Griffith played Tex in the movie. He was born in Greenville, SC, and still lives there.” It was fun for him to work with Tom Hanks and Gary Sinise. ” .
- Jenifer Defibaugh, Jimmie Stanley’s daughter-in-law, says that her family owned Jenny while the movie was being filmed. “The owner of the shrimp boat was a local shrimper named Jimmie Lee Stanley from Beaufort.” Because the boat’s sides are wide, it was chosen so that the film crew could reach more places. Also, it being an older looking shrimp boat helped. The cast and crew loved Jimmies frogmore stew. They would gather and chow down often. A few years ago, Gary Sinese wrote in the Beaufort Gazette that he would love to try some of Jimmie Stanley’s frogmore stew while he was in town if he could. “The show’s producers got the idea to use the back ladder for Lt. Jimmy Stanley, Jimmy Stanley’s son.” Dan to climb. James Stanley, who was 16 years old at the time, was going to be the Lt. Dan was the stuntman for that scene because he climbed the ladder every day. It was thought to be too dangerous and a liability issue, though. “The crew only had one chance to get the running into the dock scene right.” Booms were set off, and when the Jenny hit the dock, it made a hole in the boat that had to be fixed. This movie shows a boat going the wrong way. If you know that area and Lucy Creek, you’ll also notice this. It’s coming from a route that can’t be used because of bridges, etc. To film those scenes, they had to quickly come in and turn around. About the Jenny shrimp boat signs, the person who made two smaller copies of the Jenny traded them for the signs. A copy of the boat is at the Frampton Plantation welcome center in Point South, which is near I-95 and exit 33. ” .
Forrest Gump: SC Locations
- The front of the USC Beaufort Performing Arts Center, which is located at 801 Carteret Street in downtown Beaufort, is what the Bayou Le Batre Hospital, which Forrest endows and renames the Gump Medical Center, looks like.
- Forrest runs across the country, and the Woods Memorial Bridge in downtown Beaufort and the Chowan Creek Bridge between Ladys Island and St. Helena Island both appear in the scenes. There was even a sign on the Chowan Creek Bridge that said “Welcome to Mississippi” at the time of the shooting. ” .
- The Gump boarding house that Forrest’s mother ran was built from scratch on private land in Colleton County and worked perfectly. But because it wasn’t built to code and was thrown down right after the shooting,
- The house where Bubba’s mom lived was a real private residence on Alston Road, close to Lucy Point Creek, which is on Ladys Island at the end of Sams Point Road (also SC 802).
- The hurricane scene on the shrimp boat was filmed at the Port Royal SC Ports Authority Terminal. A jet engine was used to make the wind seem real.
- Waltham’s Hampton Street Elementary School was used to film the scene where Forrest goes to the principal’s office.
- A lot of the war scenes on Ocean Creek Golf Course on Fripp Island took place there. Other people were shot in and around Hunting Island, near the marshwalk.
- The movie’s beautiful live oak tree is at the entrance to the Carolina Shores neighborhood, close to the end of Carolina Avenue. To get there, you first have to take Bruce K. It meets US 21 just before the Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station on Smalls Drive.
- A few scenes were filmed at Bluff Plantation, which is at 3547 Combahee Road, close to Yemassee.
- Most of the shots of the shrimp boat in the water were taken on Lucy Point Creek, which is near Beaufort and lies between Coosaw Island and Ladys Island.
- Varnville is where the grate that young Forrest caught his foot in was found. The barber shop scenes, the train scene through the city, and Forrest’s run down Main Street were also filmed there. (This info was contributed by Frank McClure of Varnville. Thanks, Frank!) .
- The Stoney Creek Independent Presbyterian Church in McPhersonville, Hampton County, was used as a background for some scenes in the movie.
- Anne Lawson says, “The movie’s Bubba Gump Shrimp Company was filmed at the dock on Coosaw Island that Stan and Marie Lawson own and call Coosaw Marine.” The house where Bubba’s mom used to live was my mom’s, as was Marie Tudor’s. Other scenes were filmed at Sams Point and Lucy Creek/Coosaw River. ” .
- “I was living in Estill, SC when the movie was shot,” Michael Stankewicz says. My guess is that the football field Forrest ran on was at Patrick Henry Academy, which is outside of Estill. When I got home from work one day, the street was blocked. I asked the cop what was going on. He said they were filming a movie called Forrest Gump. ” .
FORREST GUMP Filming Locations | Where was it filmed
FAQ
Where was the shrimp boat in Forrest Gump?
Where was Forrest Gump filmed on Fripp Island?
What town was Forrest Gump filmed in?
What happened to the Jenny boat from Forrest Gump?
Where was Forrest Gump filmed?
26 years ago, but just like yesterday! Forrest Gump may have been filmed over 26 years ago (in and around Beaufort), but the movie has not diminished in popularity. We often get visitors into the welcome center at Frampton Plantation House that are eager to see the local movie locations.
Where was Bubba Gump filmed?
The dock and boat house on Coosaw Island on the other side of Lucy Creek was the setting for the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. It was destroyed in Hurricane Matthew but has been rebuilt. The Vietnam scenes, where Forrest first meets both Bubba and Lieutenant Dan were filmed on Fripp Island and Hunting Island State Park.
Did Tom Hanks use a shrimp boat to film Forrest Gump?
The Beaufort shrimp boat used as actor Tom Hanks’ ship Jenny to film the movie Forrest Gump is the subject of a museum exhibit in Georgetown, SC.
Where are Forest Gump movie locations in Beaufort?
Here are several prominent Forest Gump movie locations in Beaufort that you can still visit, and recognize, 26 years later. Gump Medical Center was actually the University of South Carolina Beaufort campus Center for the Arts on Carteret Street in downtown Beaufort.