My Visit to the Night of the Living Dead Location Sites

On my way home from the Scares That Care convention in Williamsburg, Virginia, I took a few days off to visit some of the locations associated with George Romero's Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead. This post has the location sites from Night of the Living Dead with accompanying shots from the movie. The Dawn of the Dead locations will be included in the next post. Enjoy.

 

Evans City Cemetery

This is from the opening title sequence when Johnny and Barbara turn off the main road into the cemetery. Little has changed except the sign.

The first shot we see inside the cemetery is of the chapel. Over time, the chapel became dilapidated and the city planned on tearing it down. Between donations by zombie fans and the money raised during various conventions to preserve it, enough funds were eventually raised to restore the chapel. It stands today on the same location as it did in 1968.

The top two photos are the portion of the cemetery diagonally across from the chapel where the fight scene between Johnny and the first zombie occurred. The third photo is the grave Johnny and Barbara are visiting, taken from the side they approached from. You can see the name Blair. Johnny tells Barbara they're coming to get her and she stops by the end of the Blair grave, telling him he's ignorant. As the battle between Johnny and the zombie ensues, Barbara huddles in fear by the Nicholas Kramer headstone. The fight ends when the zombie smashes Johnny's head against the Meyer's grave. With her brother dead, Barbara runs back to the car.

The Homestead

The original home that Romero trapped his characters inside has long since been torn down and replaced by the log cabin seen below. I'm not certain if the barn in the background of the second photo is the original one where Tom and Judy die in the pick-up explosion, but it does look similar. The fields surrounding the house haven't changed much.

The "Red Neck" Bridge

In the closing scenes of the movie, reporter Bill Cardille comes upon the "red neck" clean up squad and interviews Sheriff McClelland about the situation and the sheriff tells him, "They're dead. They're all messed up." This is the bridge where the interview was conducted.

I hope you enjoyed the photos. The next posting will be location sites from Dawn of the Dead.

Save the Evans City Cemetery Chapel

Gary Streiner and Russ "Johnny" Streiner have been attempting to raise funds to repair the Evans City Chapel, which appeared in the opening cemetery scene of George Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968).  It is one of the only remaining landmarks from the movie and is currently in disrepair.  Unless $50,000 can be raised to renovate it, the structure will be torn down.  One of the fund raising efforts has been the publication of Stories from the Chapel, an anthology comprised of short fiction, poetry, and artwork dedicated to the Evans City Chapel.  All proceeds from the anthology go toward the restoration of the chapel. 

I picked up a copy of the book at the InfectScranton convention two weeks ago and have really enjoyed it.  Everyone who has contributed to the anthology has done a great job, and have poured their hearts into the project. So please support a worthy cause as well as a dedicated group of amateur authors and artists by purchasing either a print version or the Kindle version of Stories of the Chapel. 

If you don't, then they'll be coming to get you.