The Great Santini was set in Beaufort in 1962 and shot there. The Meechum family’s house is still on the Point, and it is a private home.
The Great Santini, released in October 1979, was filmed in Beaufort and at the Marine Corps Air Station outside town. Robert Duvall plays Lt. Col. Wilbur “Bull” Meechum, a Marine fighter pilot who runs his family like a squadron. The story is set in Beaufort in 1962, and the town is still recognizable. Beaufort is about 40 miles from Hilton Head, an hour’s drive.
1 Laurens Street, on the Point, Beaufort
The big white house, built in 1853 by Edgar Fripp, was the Meechum family’s home. It is also the house in The Big Chill. It is privately owned and not open, but you can see it from the public street on a walk through the Point. Please don’t go onto the grounds.
About 40 miles, an hour from central Hilton Head.
Merritt Field, at the Marine Corps Air Station, was one of the film’s locations. It is an active military base, so don’t count on getting a look inside.
About 42 miles, an hour.
The Point is Beaufort’s old neighborhood of antebellum houses on the water, a short walk from Bay Street and the waterfront, and the part of town where the film’s house stands.
About 40 miles, an hour.
Lewis John Carlino directed it for Warner Bros., from Pat Conroy’s novel. Duvall and Michael O’Keefe both earned Oscar nominations.
Robert Duvall
Lt. Col. Wilbur “Bull” Meechum
Blythe Danner
Lillian Meechum
Michael O’Keefe
Ben Meechum
Stan Shaw
Toomer Smalls
Conroy published The Great Santini in 1976. The title character was inspired by his father, a Marine pilot, and Conroy’s family was stationed in Beaufort during his high school years. The book and the film both draw on that childhood. Conroy died on March 4, 2016, and is buried on St. Helena Island near the Penn Center. His other Beaufort book is on our The Water Is Wide page.
601 Bladen Street, Beaufort
A three-room gallery on his life and work, with his father’s flight jacket and the desk he wrote at on Fripp Island. Check the center’s hours before you go.
About 40 miles, an hour.
Walk the Point, stop at the Literary Center and have lunch on Bay Street: it makes an easy half day. Beaufort’s other film sites are on the movies filmed in Beaufort, SC page, and our Beaufort day trip page has the town itself.
Movies filmed in Beaufort, SC and the Lowcountry: Forrest Gump, The Great Santini, The Prince of Tides and more, plus a day trip from Hilton Head.
The Prince of Tides cast and who played whom, plus where the 1991 film was shot in Beaufort, SC, on Fripp and St. Helena, and the drive from Hilton Head.
Where The Big Chill was filmed in Beaufort, SC: Tidalholm on the Point (a private home), Bay Street, the funeral church and the drive from Hilton Head.
Where Forrest Gump was filmed around Beaufort, SC: the bridge, Hunting Island and Fripp Island, which sites you can visit, and the drive from Hilton Head.
Hilton Head to Beaufort is under an hour: the drive, the waterfront, carriage tours, Penn Center, Old Sheldon Church and Hunting Island.
The Water Is Wide book and Pat Conroy's year on Daufuskie Island: where he taught, the Conrack movie, and how to visit the Mary Field School today.
In Beaufort, South Carolina, where the story is set. The Meechum family’s house is Tidalholm on the Point, and the Marine Corps Air Station’s Merritt Field was another location.
Tidalholm, at 1 Laurens Street, is a private home and is not open to visitors. You can see it from the street on a walk through the Point.
It is a novel, published in 1976, but Pat Conroy based the title character on his father, a Marine pilot, and his family lived in Beaufort when he was in high school.
Robert Duvall played Bull Meechum, with Blythe Danner as Lillian, Michael O’Keefe as Ben and Stan Shaw as Toomer Smalls. Duvall and O’Keefe both received Oscar nominations.
About 40 miles, roughly an hour’s drive from central Hilton Head with no traffic.
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