Didi Ellingson

Since approximately 95% of The Help was filmed in Greenwood, tour requests for Greenwood have dramatically increased. As a result, Greenwood now has its own ”The Help Tour.”

“We plan to have the tour indefinitely,” says Paige Hunt, executive director of the Greenwood Convention and Visitors Bureau. “Steel Magnolias was released in 1989, and the tours are still around.”

Sign up for the Greenwood The Help Tour and you’ll get to see not only the private houses where the movie was filmed, but also favorite hangouts of the cast and crew,  such as The Alluvian Hotel, Tallahatchie Tavern, and Webster’s Restaurant.

Each day, more and more tourists, inspired by The Help, continue to come to Mississippi. “I received a call from a lady in Louisiana who is coming here with some girlfriends for a weekend getaway,” shares Hunt.  “They’re not just doing The Help tour. They’re taking a class at Viking Cooking School and exploring what Greenwood has to offer. The movie has brought a lot of excitement to our community.”

As icing on the cake, tourists to Greenwood can also stop by the charming indie bookshopTurnRow Book Co.  It was a daily hangout for the film’s directors and producers. The bookstore may still have a few signed copies of The Help for you to take home as a special souvenir.

Below is a list of some of the major Greenwood film sites in The Help. Most are private property, so please be respectful if you have a chance to visit them. (The list is from here. You can also view the Greenwood filming locations on a Google Map.)

One of the main film locations in Greenwood is Baptist Town.  Many scenes in the movie were shot there. Baptist Town is a historic 100-year old African-American community.  It was also once home to blues legend Robert Johnson. In the past few years,  this neighborhood has been plagued with problems of drug abuse, youth gangs, unemployment,  and a general lack of community focus.

“During the filming in Baptist Town, it became apparent to members of the cast and crew that there was a large amount of potential talent and imagination present within the Baptist Town community,” says Chris Columbus, producer of The Help and director of numerous films, includingHarry Potter 1 and 2, Mrs. Doubtfire and Home Alone.

With the interest and support of the cast and crew of The Help,  Baptist Town Community Development was created to rebuild the town and to provide an educational, cultural, and recreational community center for its residents. The goal of the community center is to provide opportunities for community members to learn, develop, and enhance their academic and artistic abilities.

Net proceeds from The Help’s screening in Madison, Mississippi, on July 30, 2011,  went to Baptist Town Community Development as seed money for the Baptist Town Community Center. About 1,100 people attended the benefit screening resulted in approximately $150,000 in ticket sales.

The Baptist Town Community Center is the first step in The Baptist Town Revitalization Plan,  a master plan for improving the community.  “We are incredibly grateful to those who recognized the need for such a plan and have put so much time and energy into these development efforts,”  states Greenwood Mayor Carolyn McAdams. “While revitalization of communities in need is an ongoing process, the residents of Baptist Town are encouraged and eager to move forward with improvements to their   community.”

The story of The Help takes place in 1963 during the Civil Rights struggle in Mississippi. Many scenes are set in downtown Jackson, in the historic Bellhaven neighborhood. Even though the book is a work of fiction, many of the sites mentioned in the book are real. The movie was also filmed in the Fondren District of Jackson, Mississippi.

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