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Walking Dead in the Real World

·Family, Photography, Travel·No comments

The Walking Dead was filmed in and around Atlanta from its first season in 2010, and the city’s own places stood in for the show’s: a downtown expressway, a flooded quarry, an old metal works. Olivia and I photographed three of them on one afternoon in September, and what follows is the show’s view of each beside what is there now.

Jackson Street Bridge

Old Fourth Ward, Atlanta. Rick rides into the dead city — season 1, “Days Gone Bye”, and the poster.

The shot on the season-one poster — Rick Grimes on horseback, riding down an empty Freedom Parkway toward the Atlanta skyline — was taken from this bridge, looking west. In the show the lanes are choked with abandoned cars leaving the city; on a Saturday afternoon they carry the usual traffic. It is the most visited Walking Dead spot in Atlanta, and the graffiti on the rail is part of the pilgrimage.

Rick rides down Freedom Parkway into Atlanta, the outbound lanes jammed with the cars that fled.
The frame itself — Rick rides down Freedom Parkway into Atlanta, the outbound lanes jammed with the cars that fled. (AMC)

The season-one poster, taken from the same bridge.
The season-one poster, taken from the same bridge. (AMC)
The view from the bridge, looking west down Freedom Parkway to downtown.
The view from the bridge, looking west down Freedom Parkway to downtown.
Olivia on the bridge.
Olivia on the bridge.

Bellwood Quarry

Westside Park, Atlanta. The survivors’ camp above the city — season 1.

The camp where Rick finds Lori, Carl and Shane at the end of the first episode, and where the first season’s Atlanta group lives, was filmed at Bellwood Quarry, a worked-out granite pit on the west side of the city. The city has since flooded it as a drinking-water reservoir and opened the land around it as Westside Park in 2021, so the dry quarry floor of the show is now a lake. The cliff face the camp looked out on is the same; the downtown and Midtown towers stand on the skyline beyond it.

Shane, Lori, Carl and the others at the RV, the quarry's rim behind them.
The camp in season one — Shane, Lori, Carl and the others at the RV, the quarry’s rim behind them. (AMC)

The camp as the comic drew it, and as the show built it at the quarry.
The camp as the comic drew it, and as the show built it at the quarry. (Image Comics / AMC)
The flooded quarry from the park's overlook, the skyline beyond.
The flooded quarry from the park’s overlook, the skyline beyond.
The cut granite face across the water.
The cut granite face across the water.
The whole quarry, from the pump house on the left to the far wall.
The whole quarry, from the pump house on the left to the far wall.
Olivia at the overlook.
Olivia at the overlook.

Terminus

Collier Metals, 793 Windsor Street SW, Atlanta. “Sanctuary for all. Community for all. Those who arrive survive.” — the end of season 4 and the start of season 5.

Terminus, the railway-yard “sanctuary” whose signs draw the survivors in at the end of the fourth season, was the old Collier Metals plant on Windsor Street, south of downtown. The big TERMINUS letters were mounted across the top row of windows on the brick block, and the yard in front, where Rick’s group walks in, is the gated lot in these pictures. The plant is still a working scrap-metal business, so the pictures are from the street.

Terminus as the show dressed it, the survivors walking into the yard.
Terminus as the show dressed it, the survivors walking into the yard. (AMC)

The whole plant from the air, the rail-yard side.
The whole plant from the air, the rail-yard side — the side a train blocked on the day; Windsor Street is beyond the buildings. (AMC)

The TERMINUS letters close up, on the top row of windows of the rail-yard face.
The letters close up, on the top row of windows of the rail-yard face. (Gene Page / AMC)

Terminus burning, the start of season 5.
Terminus burning, the start of season 5. (AMC)
The Collier Metals gate on Windsor Street, the Terminus block behind it.
The Collier Metals gate on Windsor Street, the Terminus block behind it.
The same brick block, its windows now boarded.
The same brick block, its windows now boarded — the letters ran along the top row.
Closer, from the gate.
Closer, from the gate.
The sheds behind the main block, along the fence.
The sheds behind the main block, along the fence.
The whole plant from across the street.
The whole plant from across the street.
A red-shouldered hawk in the trees outside Terminus.
A red-shouldered hawk in the trees outside Terminus, the same afternoon.
The hawk again, watching the street.
The hawk again, watching the street.

Credits

Photographs by Olivia and me, 13 September 2026. The poster, the stills and the comic panel are AMC’s and Image Comics’, shown here for the comparison.

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