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John Adams

Abigail Adams

Scenes for HBO’s upcoming “John Adams” miniseries are staged and shot in Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Area.

A Revolutionary Stage

HBO's "John Adams" Miniseries Premieres March 16-April 27, 2008

Colonial Williamsburg Setting for HBO's "John Adams" Miniseries

Scenes for HBO’s six-episode miniseries “John Adams” were filmed February through May 2007 in Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Area. One of four shooting locations, Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Area offered a setting painstakingly faithful to the 18th century.

“John Adams” stars Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney as John and Abigail Adams, and will focus on the first 50 years of a post-revolutionary nation. Based on David McCullough’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography “John Adams,” the series is executive produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman and directed by Emmy-winner Tom Hooper.

Scenes Filmed Throughout Historic Area

The Greenhow store’s exterior served as a Trenton, N.J. tavern that Adams frequented. The Wythe House stood in for the president’s house in Philadelphia, a brick facade masking its wooden fence. A tent and 40 coffins arranged on Palace Green suggested Philadelphia's 1793 yellow fever epidemic. For both scenes, sand was scattered on the streets to mask modern pavement.

The Palace Green was the backdrop for a public riot staged in front of the George Wythe house, which represented the president’s residence in Philadelphia. British officers ransacked an abandoned Continental Army war room in a separate scene set in the Robert Carter house. Scores of extras were called upon to crowd the Palace Green.

Adams' winter 1776 visit to Continental Army troops encamped at Harvard Yard was staged in front of the Public Hospital, where the ground and trees were blanketed with special-effects snow. The College of William and Mary's Wren Building represented a Harvard interior. Scenes also were filmed at the Governor's Palace.

Cast of Acclaimed Actors

John and Abigail Adams are portrayed by Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney, respectively. Casting was finalized with Stephen Dillane as Thomas Jefferson, Danny Huston as Samuel Adams, Rufus Sewell as Alexander Hamilton, Justin Theroux as John Hancock, and Guy Henry as Jonathan Sewall.