Where was Things Heard and Seen filmed? ALL the Locations in Chosen, NY: The House and Saginaw College
Posted by Ra Moon
Things Heard and Seen was filmed at several locations in the Hudson Valley. This paranormal thriller is set in 1980 in the small, fictional town of Chosen in New York. As in the paintings featured during the film, the movie showcases splendid cinematography by Larry Smith.
The book that appears in the film as Heaven and the World of Spirits and Hell is a 1758 essay about the afterlife by Swedish philosopher and mystic Emanuel Swedenborg. However, the plot is inspired by the 2016 novel All Things Cease to Appear by Elizabeth Brundage.
The book that appears in the film as Heaven and the World of Spirits and Hell is a 1758 essay about the afterlife by Swedish philosopher and mystic Emanuel Swedenborg. However, the plot is inspired by the 2016 novel All Things Cease to Appear by Elizabeth Brundage.
The story, full of symbolism, goes beyond the portrait of a couple in crisis. The movie contains dark secrets, metaphysical artworks, and a supernatural presence.
Catherine Clare (Amanda Seyfried, best known for her roles in Mank and Mamma Mia!) leaves Manhattan for a quiet life in a rural farmhouse with her husband, George (played by James Norton from Happy Valley, The Nevers).
Welcome to Chosen, NY, and our otherworldly guide to the filming locations of Things Heard and Seen. Watch out, small spoilers ahead!
Atlas of Wonders has tracked down the location of the Claire House. The estate consists of two large farmhouses on an 88-acre property near Millerton in Dutchess County, an approximately two-hour drive from New York City.
The exact address couldn't be more ideal for a movie about damned people: 136 Skunks Misery Road.
The interior rooms were also filmed on location in the Greek-Revival style house. In the movie, the painting on the cover of the Heaven and Hell book is the Valley of the Shadow of Death by George Inness, exposed at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center in Poughkeepsie, New York.
The ghost of Mrs. Smit plays on the piano Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Lacrimosa, a movement of the mythical Requiem.
According to the New York real estate website, Upstater, the Millerton farm was on the market in 2018 for $895,000. The oldest of the two houses dates back to 1800. Many original details remain intact, but the massive Vayle's dairy barn (pictured) has been fully refurbished.
The structure and colors of the buildings in this estate are very similar to the A Quiet Place house, filmed just about thirty miles south from here, near Pawling.
The fictional Saginaw College in Willems, NY, where George takes a new job as a college professor, is actually the Holy Cross Monastery in West Park.
This Anglican Benedictine community of men is the motherhouse of the Order of the Holy Cross. Built in 1902 overlooking the Hudson River, the building is a combination of Spanish and Tudor Revival styles.
Image courtesy of Netflix - Map
Catherine finds the portrait of the house’s first owner, local minister Jacob Smit and his wife at the Historical Society of Chosen. This scene was filmed at the Red Church Association in Tivoli.
Chosen is located in the same area as the also fictional town of Monroeville, NY, from Disney's 2022 film, Disenchanted.
Image courtesy of Netflix and Google Maps
The fall season establishing shot was filmed at the Kaaterskill Falls in the Catskill Mountains of New York. This wonderful landmark is located between Haines Falls and Palenville near Hunter (Greene County).
Visiting the waterfall is a very popular hike in the area. You can walk the pathway behind the falls, which as you can see, is awe-inspiring.
Image courtesy of Netflix - Map
George first meets Willis (Stranger Things' Natalia Dyer) at the Chosen Public Library.
This octagonal 1898 heritage building is the Red Hook Public Library.
Image courtesy of Netflix - Map
The school trip scene to The Metropolitan Museum of Art with teacher Justine Sokolov (played by Rhea Seehorn) was filmed at the actual museum.
Image courtesy of Netflix - Map
The Luman Reed art collection, just off Dexter Hall, contains paintings by Asher Brown Durand, William Sidney Mount, George Whiting Flagg, and Thomas Cole, the founder of the Hudson River School.
Cole's masterpiece The Oxbow is the Romantic landscape of the Connecticut River Valley featured in the slideshow at the beginning of the film.
The final night scenes taking place at Saginaw College in Willems were filmed at Barrytown Conference Center of the Unification Theological Seminary (UTS).
Pictured, the High Victorian Gothic style Massena House, erected at the end of the 19th-century. The 260-acre complex is located between state Route 9G and the Hudson River, just west of Red Hook.
Image courtesy of Netflix - Map
At the end of the film, George sails with The Horizon boat from the private harbor of the Mamaroneck Beach and Yacht Club.
The 1885 historic waterfront estate of the club, located on the Long Island Sound, appears briefly in the background.
Image courtesy of Netflix - Map
Where is the Byzantine-style church that appears at the beginning of the movie? And the Crow Hill Stables?
According to the Hudson Valley Film Commission, the movie was also filmed in Kingston and the town of Ulster. Also, the filmmakers included Esopus, Pine Plains, and Rhinebeck in the credits.
Can you help to improve this article about the filming locations of Things Heard and Seen? To complete and correct this report, any feedback, info, or images that you may have are more than welcome, thank you!
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2 comments:
1- Anonymous - May 3, 2021 at 20:45 PM
I knew immediately from the scenery that it was Pine Plains and Vayles farm! I will never move out of the Hudson Valley, is too beautiful!
2- Anonymous - Jul 18, 2023, 6:15 PM
There’s a driving scene between Minnewaska and Mohonk :)
1- Anonymous - May 3, 2021 at 20:45 PM
I knew immediately from the scenery that it was Pine Plains and Vayles farm! I will never move out of the Hudson Valley, is too beautiful!
2- Anonymous - Jul 18, 2023, 6:15 PM
There’s a driving scene between Minnewaska and Mohonk :)
Ra Moon
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