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so recognizable and the creek looks the same as it does in the show. It looked
just as magical in real life. I always loved the small-town feel of ‘Dawson’s
Creek’ and how Joey would row her boat to Dawson’s house, and so it was
amazing to see it in real life.”
The water is how the show’s crew first discovered the house while scouting
for locations. They looked for two adjacent homes, one to serve as Gram’s
home and one to serve as the Leery residence. Hummel says they’d travel up
the creek, stopping to take pictures. Eventually, they asked Margaret and Bill if
they’d allow their home to be used in the show. They agreed, not knowing the
extent to which the show would eventually impact not only millions of fans,
but an entire generation.
“Dawson’s Creek” ran for six seasons from 1998 to 2003. It became the coming
of-age show for many teenagers growing up around the turn of the century.
The pilot starts with Joey telling Dawson it might be inappropriate to have
sleepovers now that they’ve turned 15. The childhood best friends begin to
experience their first crushes and feelings of romantic love. As the show continues,
they go through hardship, family fights and divorce, reconciliation, the
death of loved ones, and characters moving away to craft their own destiny.
Devoted viewers grew up with the characters and in many ways found
both an escape from and guidance for their own problems with adolescence.
“I think for a lot of people, the teenage years are difficult, and having a television
show that they can escape to, even just for an hour, can help —
especially when a show is so relevant to perhaps what they
are going through in real life,” Cittern says. “I think
‘Dawson’s’ was also special because it was located in a
small town, it was so picturesque, it revolved around
real issues and it wasn’t trying to be TV’s newest glitzy
teen soap. It pushed boundaries and it wasn’t condescending
to teenagers. The way they spoke was new and
www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM
refreshing.”
The house on Hewletts Creek
was the ideal location in the fictional
Capeside, Massachusetts. The film production crew had the dock rebuilt after
Hurricane Bonnie destroyed it in 1998. They built a pier strong enough to hold
50-plus people. Allowing their home to be used as a location gave the Hummels the
opportunity to meet the stars: Bill with James Van Der Beek, and Margaret with Nina
Repeta, who played Joey’s older sister Bessie, above.