| Q.
What is it supposed to be on the show?
Q.
Where is it supposed to be on the show?
Q.
When did we see it on the show?
A. We first see the town of Iron Lake in Episode 1, of Season 9, "Cold Snap".
But it is the principal location of this new show, so we will be seeing a lot of the town on the show, in almost every episode.
Iron Lake is where Dexter
(now living under the alias of "Jim Lindsay") lives and works (eight years after we last saw him),
and where he has become friendly with most of the townspeople.
Iron Lake is where
you'll find:
- The initial walk that Dexter makes each morning through the town on his way to work, stopping at most of these locations
- and where they filmed all
of those delightful Yuletide shots of a small town decked out in Christmas lights, Including the nighttime Christmas Festival.
(Click on the links above to see individual pages about the exact locations of those specific spots in Iron Lake.)
Q.
What is it actually in real life?
A. A small town in the Northeast, but not in New York (augmented by additional scenes shot in other nearby towns).
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Q. Where can I find it in real life?
A. Iron Lake is a fictional location, a composite made up of scenes shot in several different locations.
But the majority of the Iron
Lake scenes, Including all of the Individual locations mentioned
above, were shot in one actual small town in Massachusetts called Shelburne Falls.
The Village of Shelburne
Falls is actually a shared business district made up of two adjacent
communities, Shelburne and Buckland,
which are separated by the Deerfield River, and joined by an iron
bridge.
Some of the filming
locations (such as Fred's Fish & Game) lie on the east side of the
river, while others (such as the Iron Lake Police station) are on
the west side.– which explains why we often see "Jim" walking across that
iron bridge.
You will find some of the Iron Lake locations along Bridge Street,
which is the main street that runs east/west through Shelburne Falls. That street
was named for an obvious reason: it leads right to the iron bridge that
spans the river. This is the street we see Dexter drive down when he enters town.
Most of the Christmas decorations were placed along the east side
of Bridge Street, between Deerfield Avenue and Main Street.
When they
finished filming, the production generously donated those Christmas
decorations to the town, and Shelburne Falls is now planning to Use them
this holiday season re-create the same general Christmas look we see on
the series, Which will probably inspire tourists to visit…
Once across the iron bridge, at its east end Bridge Street terminates
at a north/south avenue called State Street. Here, you'll find Other
filming locations such as the IIron Lake Tavern and the Market.
But not all of law Iron Lake's scenes were filmed, in Shelburne Falls
A few parts of the fictional Iron Lake, were shot elsewhere, including the Iron Lake High School, the Diner, and the Truck Stop. ( I will detail those locations on separate pages.)
Q. So where exactly is Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts?
It is located in the
northwest portion of the state, in Franklin County. That's about 120
miles northwest of Boston, Massachusetts, 85 miles northwest of
Worcester, MA,, and 46 miles north of Springfield, Mass.
It's also 188
miles southwest of New York City, And about 350 miles east of the
forests of upstate New York (which Is where the fictional Iron Lake Is
supposed to be).
Real-life Shelburne Falls
lies in a curve of the the Deerfield River, which separates the two
halves of the Village .
The river is only about 270 feet wide at the
point where it is spanned by the iron bridge. The town of Shelburne lies
on the east side of the river, while the town of Buckland lies on the west side.
They are joined by the bridge, and together, they make up the quaint
village of Shelburne Falls, with the bulk of the commercial district
lying to the east, in Shelburne.
The village appears to be mostly
surrounded by forests and agricultural land.
To get there from Boston,
you need to hop on the MA-2 W, and take a winding, 2.5-hour drive
east/northeast to the Maple Street exit, then follow Maple Street north
to Bridge Street, and make a left on Bridge Street. (Read more specific
directions on Google maps before attempting this trip.)
Q. How the heck did you figure out where it was?
A. This town was a fairly easy discovery, despite the fact that I live 2,500 miles away from Massachusetts.
Shelburne Falls was one of the first places where they started filming Dexter: New Blood, and Hollywood's arrival in the small town spawned a number of articles about it in the local media.
After learning early on
that they were going to be shooting in the state of Massachusetts this
season, I had been keeping an eye on local Massachusetts newspapers for
any word about Dexter filming
there, on the assumption that the nhim himovelty of having a major television
show shoot in their town would prompt a good deal of local interest and
result in mentions of it in the local press. And of course, I was right.
Several local papers,
including The Telegram & Gazette, Western Mass News, the Greenfield Recorder, and the Grafton News, ran detailed stories
about the filming In the state, often with photos of the production underway,
allowing me to see what part of town they were working in.
In addition, the
showrunners posted occasional images on their social media pages during
the shoots in various locations. They usually didn't mention exactly
where they were at, but the images were sometimes enough for me
to figure that out of my own.
And finally, a site called
Dexter Daily proved very useful. They reposted most of the
newspaper
stories that I had found on my own (usually a day or two after they
ran), and occasionally reprinted parts of other articles that I had
missed, providing new leads. Plus, they occasionally had scoops of
their own, and they ran a lot of
informative photos of the actual filming, as it moved around the state.
Between the various local
media, social postings, and Dexter Daily, I was able to pinpoint a fairly large percentage
of the filming locations early on. Then I simply had to match them up with
the images I saw when the first episode aired. I also did further research
on my own about each location, and occasionally contacted the cities or businesses involved for details.
Here is a Google StreetView of Bridge Street, in Shelburne Falls:
Map link. https://www.google.com/maps/@42.6033498,-72.7391146,15z
 
The
Dexter screenshots from the show and all related characters & elements
are trademarks of and © Showtime.
All other photos & text are Copyright © 2012-Gary Wayne
and may not be used without written permission.
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