The Walking Dead Route through Atlanta

Are you a fan of zombie shows? Do you like The Walking Dead? TV series, as you’ll learn in this post, are also a good excuse to travel. And we don’t just mean travel through our screen (as a virtual journey of sorts) but actually visiting the filming locations and setting foot on some of the places your favorite characters visit regularly. And that is precisely what we are going to do with this TV series about the living dead. This is where The Walking Dead Route takes off.

 

Not everyone knows that most of the scenes in The Walking Dead are actually shot in Atlanta, the capital and most densely populated city of the state of Georgia (US). After having a little wander through this large American city, we’ll give you some hints so you can find some of the filming locations of the TV series; though not all of them, as that would be nearly impossible.

King County Hospital: This is the place where it all begins, the ground zero of this show. The hospital where Sheriff Rick Grimes wakes up from a coma without any clue as to what has really happened in the world, with the people, and with everyone else. Well, there is no such city as King County. But as a fun fact, you might like to know that those scenes where shot at Atlanta Union Mission, which, paradoxically, is a Christian social service center for the homeless.

Center for Disease Control: Rick heads to a CDC office to try to locate his family. But in line with a major underlying theme of The Walking Dead, nothing is what it seems, including this CDC office. It is really the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center, an arts and culture center that is open to the public and can be visited.

Highway 85: This is the highway Rick Grimes takes on his way to Atlanta. However, his choice of transport is a bit odd: he travels on horseback.

Westside Reservoir Park: It is in this park of Bellwood Quarry, on the outskirts of Atlanta that we witness one of the most touching scenes of the first few episodes. This is where Rick meets his wife and son after the events. This is the campsite where the two of them where staying until the family reunites.

Henry County Highway 20: This is the road where dozens of cars, belonging to families that tried to leave Atlanta for Fort Benning without success, were abandoned. It is worthwhile noting that Fort Benning is a military base, and also the place where our living protagonists hope they’ll be able to find shelter.

Cochran Mill Nature Center, Palmetto: Once here, the group tries to find Sophia, who has gone missing. They look for her in the forest and at a car graveyard but there is just no trace of her. What Rick and the rest are not aware of is that the terrain is so dangerous and swampy that it can become a death trap for anyone that ventures in. Moreover, this beautiful park is also inhabited by ravenous zombies. And the place exists in real life. It is a privately owned farm in Senoia (you’ll find it between Highway 85 and the Chestlehurst Road).

West Central Prison, Zebulon: For the zombies in the show, jail is synonymous with salvation and hope. And this prison does become the most recurring backdrop to the series in the third season.

Woodbury: Don’t look for it, it isn’t real. The town of Woodbury is really Senoia, where zombies manage to mix in and coexist with the living.

And these were some of the filming locations of The Walking Dead. Hope it’s not too late for a spoiler alert. To be continued.

 

Twitter: @DianaRPretel