MovieChat Forums > Our Town (1940) Discussion > Location of Grover's Corners

Location of Grover's Corners


"Our Town," the Stage Manager says, "is Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, just across the state line from Massachusetts." He gives its location as 42 degrees 40 minutes, 70 degrees 37 minutes. If one looks at those coordinates one a map one will find himself in the Atlantic Ocean NE of Rockport, MA. A small islet called Dodge Rock is located at those coordinates.

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Right, it's a fictional town. What is your point?

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I think it's over in the Sw corner near the Vt border.

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I have read that some of the scenes were filmed in Keene NH which is in the southwestern part of the state.

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But haven't you heard? Everything in all movies must be factually correct and unimpeachable otherwise it is simply not belivable. Any element, no matter how insignificant, if incorrect or implausible renders the experience unworthwhile, makes the narrative unacceptable, the entire production is compromised when a factoid is incorrect.

We live in sad times .... When even fictional towns had better be locatable using google maps ...

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[deleted]

It's meant to be fictional, and more than that, to represent Anytown, USA.

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True, but when the narrator is on the hill looking down on the town he does mention the train from Boston and some of the towns in New Hampshire so the town is in New Hampshire.

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it's got that new hampshire smell.



"Hipness is not a state of mind, it's a fact of life!" - Cannonball Adderley

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Still, one assumes that Thornton Wilder DID check a map to make sure his coordinates were not those of some town in another country, or even one in another region of the USA. There had to be specific reasons for this choice; while perhaps some emotions and behaviors are universal, customs can be quite specific, even from one end of a state to another. It's natural for a reader to be curious about the real-life models for the town and its populace.

"Shake me up, Judy!"

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It's in the mind of god..... the rest of the "locational" information is not important....

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I just smashed my Blu-Ray copy over this. I want my money back.

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