There’s nothing quite like New England in autumn. Falling leaves, hot coffee with a pumpkin spice bouquet, hayrides, scarves, peacoats, and long, meandering conversations about Paul Anka, Doris Day, and Christiane Amanpour. ’Tis the season for Gilmore Girls!
But, let's be honest, every season is the season for Gilmore Girls. If you’re like us, you’ve enjoyed your fair share of GG binge-fests, complete with candy, pizza, and glitter nail polish.
As much as we love Lorelai and Rory’s delicious banter and manic-pixie-dreamgirl-esque shenanigans, we’ve gotta say, our favorite character on The Gilmore Girls, is the town. That quintessential rural New England town of Stars Hollow. I mean, who didn’t want to go to Stars Hollow High or hit up one of those adorable Town Hall Meetings? Well, unlike other fictional locales that are too good to be true (ahem, Rivendell), Stars Hollow is actually based on a real place.
This is said to be the real life location that inspired 'The Independence Inn', where Lorelai worked.
While showrunner Amy Sherman-Palladino was staying at the The Mayflower Grace on vacation, she fell madly in love with Connecticut. For two days she drove through various towns and began conceiving the fictional Stars Hollow, a fairytale town, grounded in actual, real places.
Welcome to Washington, Connecticut. Size: 38.7 square miles. Population: 3,578. This rural town in Litchfield County, Connecticut served as inspiration for the town of Stars Hollow. It’s where the Mayflower Grace Inn is located, and thus the starting point for the idea that would become Stars Hollow. As a side note, it was also used for filming parts of "Friday the 13th, Part 2," so that’s pretty rad.
Many of the houses were built before 1950, and reflect such historic architectural styles as Georgian, Greek Revival, Italianate and Shingle. There’s also loads of 19th century barns, mills and other buildings, which are also remarkably well-preserved.
Even the town’s government helped inspire an important feature of the show: “Washington has a traditional New England town meeting form of government, which operates under the Connecticut General Statutes. Town meetings serve as Washington's chief legislative body, and several specialized boards and commissions, run by volunteer residents, tend to municipal business.” They meet in an actual town hall, though, not a dance studio.
Washington, Connecticut, United States
Washington, Connecticut town hall, real-life Gilmore Girls location
Marty's Cafe
If you visit Washington (which we highly suggest, especially as a day or weekend trip from New York) you won't actually find any diners in town. You will, however, find Marty's Cafe. It's more of a fancy coffee shop than an old-school diner like Luke's from the show, but you'll get an amazing cup of coffee and the friendly small-town atmosphere that made Luke's so appealing!
Hickory Stick Bookshop
If you want to take a page from Rory's book (pun intended) head to Hickory Stick Bookshop. It's the closest thing to Stars Hollow Books, and even though you won't find Rory sorting books here, it's still the perfect place to spend an afternoon browsing through.
"New Milford Downtown" — Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Because what says Fall and Gilmore Girls more than apple cider and crisp air.
If you head to the center of town and stop at the town green, you'll spot a gazebo that many say inspired the one in Stars Hollow where many magical moments happened on The Gilmore Girls.
New Milford, Connecticut, United States
Luke's Diner is central to The Gilmore Girls. It's where many of the shows most iconic moments occur. Have a seat at Theo's and you'll see how a place like this just might be the real-life Fred's diner form The Gilmore Girls.
Hang out long enough and you just might see Kirk come walking in.
While not exactly featured in the show itself, this well-reviewed spot is a nice break for a bite as you retrace the steps of Lorelai, Rory, and crew.
This is another Connecticut town that's said to have been inspiration for The Gilmore Girls. Take a stroll through these small-town neighborhoods and its easy to imagine you've been transported right to Stars Hollow.
Litchfield, Connecticut, United States
Rory Gilmore ultimately decided to attend Yale over her former 'dream school' of Harvard. As a result, scenes from her college days in New Haven are featured in the show's later seasons.
While the 'Yale' in the show was actually shot in Southern California, you'll still recognize many iconic stops if you add this spot to your road trip.
And there you have it Gilmore Girls addicts! Go forth and proudly binge-drink coffee, crank up your Bangles CDs, consume unconscionable quantities of pie and for the love of god, banter your little hearts out!
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