Cape Fear is a river in North Carolina but the film was shot almost entirely in Georgia. Weather conditions and other problems forced to wrap up the location shooting in Savannah sooner than expected. Additional scenes were filmed at Universal Studios and on the coast in Ventura, California.
Max Cady (Robert Mitchum) walking towards the City Hall:
Wright Square, Savannah, Georgia.
Johnson Square looking south at Bull Street, Savannah, Georgia. The Blun Building on the corner (aka the Germania Bank building) was demolished in 1975.
City Hall view from Bull Street, Savannah, Georgia.
View from the City Hall steps towards Bull Street, Savannah, Georgia.
Cady enters the City Hall – 2 East Bay Street, Savannah, Georgia.
Cady confronts Sam Bowden (Gregory Peck) – East Upper Factors Walk at East Bay Street, Savannah, Georgia. Factors Walk dates back to the days when Savannah was an important center of cotton trade. Because of the difference in elevation between the working waterfront and the city above, a series of pedestrian gangways and ramps were developed to facilitate the movement between these parts. One of these gangways can be seen behind Peck.
In that scene, the old Savannah Cotton Exchange building at 100 East Bay Street can be seen behind Mitchum. The building dates back to 1887 when cotton still dominated the city’s economic life. When Savannah evolved into a leading industrial seaport, the exchange closed, and the building hosted the Chamber of Commerce. Since 1976 it’s been home to Solomon’s Masonic Lodge.
Bowden driving away while Cady looks on – East Upper Factors Walk at East Bay Street, Savannah, Georgia. The buildings behind Mitchum are part of Factors Row. They used to house factors (it’s a type of trader who receives and sells goods on commission.)
Bowden’s home – Elliott House, Grove Point, 2298 Grove Point Road, Savannah, Georgia. Originally, a rice plantation dating back to the late 18th century, the estate was saved from neglect by Ralph Elliott who acquired it in 1882. He also commissioned the main two-story building that now bears his name. George Mercer purchased the property in 1942. He and his wife Bessie further transformed it, adding other structures and rooms. George’s half-brother, the songwriter Johnny Mercer was a regular visitor here. Grove Point passed from George Mercer to Great Dane in 1956 for company use. Since then it has been used as a vacation spot and business retreat for the company’s employees, and also for various special events.
Boar’s Head – Still searching for this location. Possibly, it's a set built on the beach in Ventura, California.
The house where Cady beats up Diane (Barrie Chase) – Still searching for this location.
Bowden confronts Cady on the pier – Isle of Hope Marina, 50 West Bluff Drive, Savannah, Georgia. It looks very different from what is seen in the film because the marina underwent a major renovation in the mid-1990s and 2000s.
Nancy Bowden’s (Lori Martin) school – 447 Bull Street, Savannah, Georgia. It was built in 1917-19 for magnate George Ferguson Armstrong. It was owned by the Armstrong family from 1919 to 1935. Afterwards, it became the campus of Armstrong Junior College. When the building came under threat of demolition in 1967, the Historic Savannah Foundation purchased the Armstrong House, and then sold it to preservationist and antique dealer Jim Williams who restored it. Eventually, it was sold to a major Savannah law firm as offices (it appears as Sonny Seiler’s law office in 1997’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.) In 2017, it was bought by the preservationist-hotelier Richard C. Kessler who commissioned a complete restoration of the property to make it look as close as possible to the original design.
Cady walking through Forsyth Park. This 30-acre park and its beautiful fountain—modeled after the one at the Place de la Concorde in Paris—have been the filmmakers’ favorite for many years. Almost every major film shot in Savannah uses it as a backdrop.
Cady emerges from Forsyth Park and threatens Nancy – Bull Street at Gaston, Savannah, Georgia.
Thugs attack Cady near the pier – Ventura Pier Beach, California. The old pier, originally built in 1872, was the largest wooden pier on the California coast. Over the years, it suffered a lot of damage from storms, and was rebuilt in the 1990s. There are very few pictures of the old pier but the one I found showed the similar structure to the one seen in the film. Another matching detail is that the cars were parked right on the beach, just like in the screenshot below.
Bowden takes his family to a fishing camp at the Cape Fear River – Morgans Bridge, Bloomingdale, Georgia. A fake Cape Fear sign was put up for the filming. It’s actually the Ogeechee River. The camp buildings were sets.
Bowden at the airport – Still searching for this location.
The houseboat scenes – Park Lake, Universal Studios, Universal City, California. Lee Server's biography of Robert Mitchum, Baby I Don't Care, only mentions that these scenes were filmed at a "studio lake". There were three man-made lakes on the Universal backlot: Falls Lake, Singapore Lake (now Jaws Lake), and Park Lake.
Park Lake seems the most likely candidate. It stood for the Mississippi in The Mississippi Gambler (1953) with Tyrone Power, and the Amazon in The Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Since 1973 it was used for a tourist attraction called Parting of the Red Sea. In 2017, it was announced that the lake would be removed from the backlot.
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