Filming Locations Guide: Where was Hillbilly Elegy filmed? The House in Middletown

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Set in Middletown, Ohio, Hillbilly Elegy is a film adaptation of J.D. Vance’s best-selling book of the same name subtitled Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis.

The story navigates the dynamics of the author's Appalachian family roots and their struggles with poverty, alcoholism, and abuse.

Glenn Close and Amy Adams

J. D. Vance is played by Gabriel Basso (The Big C, Super 8). 7-times Oscar nominee Glenn Close plays her grandmother and family matriarch, Mamaw. Amy Adams (Arrival, Sharp Objects) plays Bev, J.D.'s mother, and Bo Hopkins (Midnight Express, American Graffiti) is grandpa Papaw Vance.

Hillbilly Elegy was filmed in Middletown, but most of the movie was shot in and around Atlanta in Georgia. Here is our (almost) spoiler-free filming locations guide:

Where was Hillbilly Elegy filmed
The railway overpass in Middletown appears in the three periods in which the film is set: the 1940s, the late 1990s, and 2012.

This tunnel is located in Poplar St in Macon (Georgia).
(You can open all the locations on Google Maps by clicking on the links below in the captions ↴)
Image courtesy of Netflix and Google Maps


Location in Macon
The Historic Macon website reported that the film crew dressed exteriors of around 20 stores and buildings to replicate street scenes from Middletown in Poplar Street.

The HBO series Watchmen also took advantage of the quantity and quality of historic buildings in downtown Macon to shoot scenes set in the 40s.
Image courtesy of Netflix and Google Maps


The steel plant
The factory was made blending the Schnitzer scrap metal recycling center at Edgewood Avenue in Macon, with images of the blast furnace located in the century-old AK Steel mill in Middletown.
Image courtesy of Netflix and Google Maps / AK Steel Map


Hillbilly Elegy house
The Vance family house and neighborhood were filmed in Harrison Street in the center of Middletown.

Local press reported that additional scenes were shot at Liebee Street and on Main Street by the historic Sorg Opera House.
Image courtesy of Netflix - Map


The Yale Law School
The exteriors at Yale University were filmed on location on the campus in New Haven (Connecticut).

However, the dinner reception for law students was shot at The Barnett Condos in Atlanta.
Image courtesy of Netflix and Google Maps


Hillbilly Elegy drehort
We found the Victory sports cards and collectibles shop at 3003 Vineville Avenue in Macon.

The scene where young J.D. (Owen Asztalos) is looking for a Texas Instruments calculator in a RadioShack store was also filmed in Macon, near the Bibb Theatre on 3rd Street.
Image courtesy of Netflix and Google Maps / RadioShack


Motel Location
From $75 for a double room, you can stay in the final scene motel located at 1865 Cheshire Bridge in Atlanta.

The Cheshire Motor Inn was also featured in the 2013 comedy Identity Thief and Clint Eastwood's 2018 film The Mule.
Image courtesy of Netflix - Map


Can you help to improve this article about the shooting locations of Hillbilly Elegy? To complete and correct this report, any feedback, info, or images that you may have are more than welcome, thank you!

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7 comments
  1. This article is wrong. There is an article steel plant in Middletown, oh and it is still running at full capacity. The plant in Ashland ohio is a separate plant and that one closed in 2019.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your comment, We have corrected the mistake!

      Delete
    2. The plant in middletown Ohio is running. The plant in ashland Kentucky is the one that closed.

      Delete
    3. Yes, we got confused, thank you :)

      Delete
  2. The AK blast furnace was built in the late 60’s as part of “Project 600”.
    Before that they used open hearth furnaces located on Curtis Street

    ReplyDelete
  3. It was a Texas instrument calculator

    ReplyDelete
  4. Does anyone know where the cemetery scene was filmed?

    ReplyDelete

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