chilly day. light rain. little fog. vintage thrift shop sweaters. 1980s town. no one on the road but you, surrounded by your closest, with the stranger things's recognizable soundtrack playing through the car's speakers.

find this in jackson, georgia, one of the homes of today's netflix favorite stranger things.

maybe they're onto something with the parallel universes — what we know as the town of hawkins, indiana, in the show finds itself in the southeast, in the quiet village of jackson, georgia.

sitting 45 minutes outside of atlanta and 15 minutes off interstate 75, the small town of 5,000 is like walking into a 1980s bubble. everywhere you look sits a beautifully preserved, economically depressed town that exudes the muted charm of the 80s — understandably the perfect place for the location of stranger things.

let's get to the locations:

general store

potentially the most noticeable icon from the show is the general store. residing on the corner of mulberry and 2nd, jackson drug co. holds a small part in the show, but carries some of the biggest stories.

as soon as our group of four (noticeably tourists) walked inside with cameras in hand, the sweet woman at the counter gently smiled at us and just said, "stranger things?!" she knew.

the small-town woman humbly wore the show's partnership with her store with silent, excitable pride and joy. she told us how they moved around counters in the store and where the cast filmed inside. she pointed us to the back of the pharmacy counter and told us her friend could tell us even more than we could imagine, as he was here the day they filmed.

overwhelmed by a mix of excitement and southern hospitality, we couldn't build up the courage to talk to the other worker; but on our way out, the sweet woman at the counter said the cast was coming back to the store next week to film season 2 (!!!!!!!).

hopefully this time, our sweet friend would get to be apart of the coolest adventure.

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radio shack // 2nd street

small but mighty and adjacent to jackson drug sits one of the town's only chain business, radio shack. upon closer look, the radio shack sign was one of the only signs to not be covered or altered during the filming of the show.

on this same block of 2nd street is the place where joyce and jonathan byers ensue in a public yelling match over will's funeral, as well as the beginning of the alley fight scene between jonathan byers and steve harrington.

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alley

coincidentally behind jackson's general store and radio shack lies the alleyway where the show's teens partake in physical brawls. as well as some of the other building signage, the original walls of the alley are slightly altered and covered with fresh plywood for the show's filming.

stumbling on this little spot was such a treat, as it wasn't in any articles on filming locations that we read prior to visiting the town. we accidentally drove right through it and was like, "this is it." (note: probably the nicest alley i've ever been in!).

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library

upon his research on dr. brenner and the hawkins national laboratory, chief hopper of the hawkins police department takes to the county's library. the first shot of this scene was filmed on the outside of the county probate court, which marks the centerpoint of downtown jackson and sits across the street from the general store and radio shack.

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woods

according to fellow articles, the show's wood scenes weren't filmed in the town of jackson, but pulling over on the side of the road in between downtown and interstate 75 and trekking into the brush is just as perfect (also, we didn't find will either!).

looking at the town outside of laptop and television screens, you're in stranger things. imagine being a character in your favorite tv show. walking through downtown jackson is the closest you can get to chasing that incomprehensible feeling.

to most, jackson looks just like any other small town; but to the stranger things fan, it is everything and more.

resources, locations, and additional information thanks to deep south magazine and architectural digest.

show photos taken from stranger things, netflix studios, llc.