‘Dawson’s Creek’ and ‘One Tree Hill’ Have This in Common

In the late ’90s and early 2000s, television was ablaze with teen dramas, from Buffy The Vampire Slayer to Gilmore Girls and everything in between. While each one shared many similar central ideas, such as high school drama, relationship troubles, and messy family dynamics, they all had something unique about them that let them stand on their own. Among some of the most popular of the teen-drama genre were Dawson’s Creek and One Tree Hill.

Made a few years apart from each other, there are some similarities in terms of dynamics and characterizations, but at the end of the day, both have wholly different tones and storylines within them that let them shine in their own right. They do however share one major similarity though, and that’s the filming location. Both shows were filmed in the coastal town of Wilmington, North Carolina, but despite sharing a general location, the fictional towns of Tree Hill and Capeside couldn’t be more different.

RELATED: 10 Best Reasons To Watch Dawson’s Creek If You Loved One Tree Hill

‘Dawson’s Creek’: Capeside

Dawson’s Creek centers around teenagers living in the fictional town of Capeside, which is portrayed as a small harbor town on the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. As is typical with towns in that region, beaches, harbors, forests, and creeks are often found. This is true in the show as well, with Capeside Harbor, Capeside Creek, Capeside Promenade, and Capeside Campgrounds, all among the sights of the town.

Capeside is a very close-knit town, where everybody knows everybody, which makes drama very easy to ignite. But because it’s a small town, it’s often a bit of a bore for the teenagers looking for excitement and fun on weekends. The main hangout spot is Screen Play Video, which is where Pacey (Joshua Jackson) and Dawson (James Van Der Beek) work, and the seafood restaurant, S.S. Icehouse, which Joey’s (Katie Holmes) sister owns, and she waitresses at. It is also home to a one-screen movie theater, which is often the site of many romantic encounters (and even some heartbreaks).

While the town itself may be fictitious, the show’s creator Kevin Williamson said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that a lot of the experiences within it are real and inspired by his own childhood. He grew up in the coastal community of New Bern, North Carolina. In fact, a lot of Dawson’s characterization is pulled from Williamson, as he too dreamed of growing up to become a famous filmmaker. Joey, who is Dawson’s childhood best friend in the show, is also loosely based on Williamson, as well as some of his close friends. In the same interview, Williamson also shared that the Network wanted him to change the show’s location from North Carolina, where it was originally set, to Boston. So, as not to compromise his vision, he set it outside of Boston in the fictional town of Capeside, and thus Dawson’s Creek was born.

‘One Tree Hill’: Tree Hill

One Tree Hill follows the lives of Lucas (Chad Michael Murray) and Nathan Scott (James Lafferty), half-brothers with nothing in common aside from their last name and their mutual love of basketball. As the show goes on though, their lives slowly meld together, starting with when Lucas joins the school’s basketball team alongside Nathan. Tree Hill is said to be located on the Eastern Coast of North Carolina, and like Capeside, is a relatively close-knit community in terms of knowing all of its residents. Tree Hill has many prominent hangouts for the characters, such as Karen’s Café, the river court, the club Tric, a record shop, and a mall, just to name a few. Even despite its relatively low-key existence in the grand scheme of things, it’s much more of a bustling town than Capeside, despite both shows being filmed in the same place.

Like Dawson’s Capeside, One Tree Hill’s town of Tree Hill is not a real town either, though it is filmed in the same place. But while both shows are filmed in Wilmington, the general looks of the towns are completely different. Where Capeside is more beachy and a tourist destination, Tree Hill is much more reserved and quiet — at least, in terms of its setting. Tree Hill is home to some very successful people who went on to find fame and fortune in their lives, such as Brooke (Sophia Bush) becoming a fashion designer, Lucas becoming an author, Haley (Bethany Joy Lenz) being a singer/songwriter, and Nathan joining the NBA.

Towns Collide

Capeside and Tree Hill may be wholly different places in so many ways, but aside from their filming location being the same, there’s one other major similarity they have in common — cameos on each other’s shows. Back in Season 5 of Dawson’s Creek, and before One Tree Hill, Chad Michael Murray joined the cast as the recurring character Charlie Todd.

Charlie is dating both Jen and Joey, with his relationship with Jen being mostly physical. However, he does grow to have genuine feelings for Joey, which stirs up a conflict in him as to whether he should quit his band and stay with her or drop out of school to embark on tour. Murray isn’t the only Tree Hill resident to appear on Dawson’s Creek though, as Hilarie Burton (who plays Peyton Sawyer in One Tree Hill) also has a cameo in Dawson’s as herself. At the time, Burton was working as an MTV VJ, and this is the exact role she plays on the show — even having a scene with Murray who would eventually become her future co-star.

But it’s not just Hilarie and Chad who crossed over to Capeside for a time, James Van Der Beek (AKA, Dawson of the creek) had a 4 episode guest role on One Tree Hill in its sixth season. Van Der Beek played Adam Reese, a film director who is hired to direct a film adaptation of Lucas’ novel. His character is proven to be quite poor at his job when he does the bare minimum for work and then celebrates after the film is shut down, showing little to no remorse for the demise of the project.

Despite having minor roles in each other’s shows, and playing relatively unlikeable characters at that, it’s still such a cool coincidence that they shared the screen together. And not only the screen but the filming location as well. It’s all a fun little nod for fans of both shows and is the perfect capsule of nostalgia that we can all appreciate.