Bon Temps

Steve and I first fell in love with the charming town of Clinton, Louisiana, some six years ago, when we stumbled upon it by chance while exploring the gently rolling hills of what are known as the Felicianas. With its moss-draped live oaks, stately columned courthouse, Victorian-era false-fronted shops, and graceful antebellum homes, Clinton is a picture book-style old Southern town. After Katrina, when we decided to buy a “bolt hole” that we could use for future hurricane evacuations, it seemed somehow inevitable that we ended up buying a house on a small lake on the outskirts of Clinton.

So it was a bit of a kick to drive through town on our way to the lake a few weeks ago and discover that Clinton had been turned into the physical manifestation of Bon Temps, the fictional small Louisiana town that serves as the setting for the HBO series “True Blood.”



Personally, I’ve never seen “True Blood,” although I have read one of the Sookie Stackhouse books. The filming of the location shots was evidently quite an experience for the cast, who had to deal with real heat and humidity rather then simply pretending they were dealing with heat and humidity.

“It makes you move slower, which is interesting for character,” said actor Stephen Moyer. “I understand now why people move so slow down here.” To which Anna Paquin, who plays Sookie, chimed in, “You have to move slower, or you’ll pass out!”

Seems Clinton will be appearing in three of the upcoming episodes, including the August 23rd episode and the season finale. And given the series’s success, more filming will likely be scheduled in the future. Which is nice to know, because like so many small American towns these days, Clinton needs all the help it can get.