Where was Shutter Island filmed?

The opening scenes of Shutter Island introduce us to Teddy and Chuck as they make their way to Shutter Island by boat. Chuck is laid-back and relaxed, but Teddy appears to be a seasick mess. “I just can’t stomach the water,” he admits to Chuck, in a line that’ll take on a much more important meaning by the end of the film.

We also learn about Teddy’s wife’s death, but then we’re treated to our first glimpse of the island. With the imposing notes of the musical score in the background, Shutter Island looks like one very scary place indeed. And as the two marshals are greeted with a hostile reception as they come ashore, it’s already clear that this investigation is going to be anything but routine.

“Your boys seem a little on edge,” a suspicious Teddy says to Deputy Warden McPherson (John Carroll Lynch). Right now, marshal, we all are,” he responds ominously.

Peddocks Island, which sits in Boston Harbor off the coast of Quincy, was chosen as the setting for this intimidating introduction to Shutter Island. There’s a ferry wharf on the island’s northeastern corner, and from there you can see the remains of Fort Andrews that appear on-screen in the film.

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Throughout the film, the ongoing action is interspersed with Teddy’s flashbacks to his life with his wife and the life-changing experiences he encountered while serving in World War II. In one particular scene, we see that Teddy’s unit liberated prisoners from the Dachau concentration camp, and Teddy was horrified and permanently scarred by what they found.

We see just how affected Teddy is when he spots the body of a dead woman cradling her daughter among a stack of bodies. And then, when the German commander of the concentration camp tries to kill himself, he’s unsuccessful and only manages to wound himself — and Teddy is determined not to let him take the easy way out.

As the German reaches for his gun once again, Teddy moves the weapon out of his reach, then watches the other man suffer a painful and protracted death.

The Dachau concentration camp scenes were actually shot at Whittenton Mills in Taunton, MA. Found roughly 40 miles south of Boston, the mills are just a short drive off the Blue Star Memorial Highway.

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After a largely fruitless interrogation of the staff, Teddy and Chuck are invited to Dr. Cawley’s mansion for a drink. As thunder crashes outside, the marshals admire the mansion’s opulent interior and come face to face with Dr. Naehring, and Teddy and the imperious doctor get involved in some verbal sparring.

It’s clear there’s something about the doctor that rubs Teddy the wrong way, such as his German accent or his imperious manner. “Men like you are my specialty; men of violence,” the doctor tells Teddy and Chuck. “Since the schoolyard, neither of you has ever walked away from a physical conflict. Not because you enjoy it, but because retreat isn’t something you consider an option.”

This tense Shutter Island film scene is interspersed with flashbacks of Teddy’s time in wartime Germany, and there’s a real air of menace hanging over every exchange.

If you want to check out Dr. Cawley’s mansion for yourself, head to Turner Hill Golf Club. Located on Topsfield Road in Ipswich, some 25 miles northeast of Boston, the mansion here is even available for hire as a wedding venue.

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“Storm’s coming,” the boat captain tells the two marshals on the ride out to the island, encouraging them to disembark as quickly as possible. And after Teddy and Chuck finish questioning the hospital patients, Chuck appears to suspect that all is not as it seems with Teddy’s motivations for taking on the case.

As the rain starts to fall, Chuck confronts Teddy to find out why he’s been asking each patient about a man named Laeddis. Teddy reveals that he took the case to track down Laeddis, the man he blames for his wife’s death, and the two marshals then begin searching the cemetery for the missing patient, Rachel.

As they do, Chuck demands to know what one of the patients said to Teddy in the interview while Chuck was out of the room. But she didn’t say something — she wrote it. Teddy shows Chuck his notebook, where the patient has scribbled one word in big, bold letters: RUN. Then, with hurricane-like winds lashing the two men and trees falling around them, they make a desperate dash for safety.

These woods are actually found in Wilson Mountain Reservation, in Dedham, MA, 20 miles southwest of Boston. This 207-acre park is easily accessible, and standing at 295 feet, it also offers good views of the surrounding terrain.

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As Teddy and Chuck investigate Rachel’s mysterious disappearance, they hear rumors about the island’s lighthouse, which is supposedly where the staff conduct lobotomies and other medical experiments on difficult patients. Teddy is desperate to check out the lighthouse for himself, but Chuck is hesitant — which only heightens Teddy’s paranoia about whether or not he can truly trust his partner.

The two decide to head out on separate routes, but Teddy soon discovers that he can’t access the lighthouse due to the incoming tide. But when Teddy returns there’s no sign of Chuck, until Teddy spots his body on the rocks far below. He scrambles down the cliff face to help but when he gets there, Chuck’s body is gone.

The rocky shoreline and sheer cliff faces here were actually filmed at Otter Cliff in Maine’s Acadia National Park, around 50 miles southeast of Bangor. Shooting here reportedly involved a crew of 40 people and the use of a 70-foot crane. Take Park Loop Road to get there.

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As Shutter Island reaches its shocking conclusion, the audience is treated to one almighty twist: Teddy isn’t really a US marshal, he’s a patient at the hospital. And his name isn’t Teddy at all — it’s Laeddis.

In a disturbing flashback scene, we see Laeddis/Teddy return home in his younger years to his lakeside house to find his wife, Dolores, acting very strangely. “Where are the kids?” he asks, increasingly concerned, and Dolores says they’re in school. Laeddis gently reminds her that school isn’t in on Saturday, but her response is chilling: “My school is,” she smiles.

That’s when he notices the bodies of his children floating in the lake. The mentally-ill Dolores has drowned them, and Laeddis tries frantically to save them but he’s too late.

This horrific scene was filmed at Leach Pond in Borderland State Park, North Easton. There you’ll find the stone lodge that served as the family’s home before Laeddis’ life was destroyed by tragedy.

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