The 1991 film “Fried Green Tomatoes” is beloved by Alabamians. The book on which it was based, “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café,” is set in Alabama and it was written by Birmingham native Fannie Flagg.
The movie was filmed, however, in Georgia. For example, the small town of Juliette, Ga., is home to the titular café, which is located alongside railroad tracks. About an hour’s drive west of Juliette lies Senoia, Ga., a quaint small town that is a frequent location choice of moviemakers. It is home to two settings that were pivotal to the movie’s plot: The Threadgoode house and the iconic railroad bridge.
The home of Idgie Threadgoode, who grows from a child to a woman (portrayed by Mary Stuart Masterson), is actually the Travis-McDaniel House, built by Willis and Estelle Travis.
Susan Stitt of the Senoia Area Historical Society said construction on the home began circa-1907.
“According to local history, Mrs. Travis ordered the house plan after seeing it in The Ladies’ Home Journal magazine, and it was completed about 1910,” Stitt said. “Construction started in 1907 or 1908, but since homes were built almost entirely by hand back then, it took three years to construct.”
The late-Victorian house is situated cattycorner – as we southerners say – on the lot. It was painted white in the movie but has been painted several times since then.
“Typical of Victorian homes, this house has an asymmetrical mass, large one over one windows, and a wraparound porch,” Stitt said. “Especially interesting is the placement of the entrance at the corner of the building.”
Located at 204 Bridge Street at the corner of Travis and Bridge streets, the house is privately owned but tourists can often be seen taking photos from the street.
Visitors can take a short walk across the street from the home to see a wooden bridge that spans a single railroad track. This was where the character Buddy Threadgoode (played by Chris O’Donnell) has his terrible accident in the movie.
The City of Senoia is accustomed to film tourism; for example, scenes from “Driving Miss Daisy” were filmed at the Travis-McDaniel House. More recently, a movie in The Conjuring series used the house as the site of an exorcism in “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.”
But the town is best known as “Home of The Walking Dead,” after the crew built a semi-permanent set in the town that served as the show’s setting for much of its 11-season run.
