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Is ‘Widow's Bay’ a real place? A look into real-life harbors and dive bars behind Apple TV’s hit show

Matthew Rhys stars as the mayor of 'Widows Bay' who is desperate to bring in tourism dollars to the island town's dwindling economy.

'Widow's Bay' on Apple TV has made it abundantly clear that the genre of horror-comedy might not have gone out of fashion after all. The series stars Matthew Rhys in the leading role of Tom Loftis, the mayor of the eponymous island town in New England. While the mayor's office might initially seem like a position of power and prestige, Loftis finds himself in a rather tight spot on the Apple TV show. Being ambitious in his disposition, Loftis is desperate to rejuvenate the failing economy of Widow's Bay by turning it into the next "Martha's Vineyard," thereby injecting some much-needed tourism dollars into the economy of the town. 

However, the townsfolk and the town's lore seem to be working against Loftis' initiative. According to the superstitious locals, the entire town is severely cursed, and this is illustrated by the town's bizarre history of violence, death, and unexplained supernatural phenomena. The deft direction and cinematography of 'Widow's Bay' have led many audience members to wonder whether the town really exists. Although the island town is entirely fictional, creator Katie Dippold had previously revealed in an interview with The Boston Globe that it's set somewhere off the coast of New England, "It’s a long ferry ride, you don’t know exactly if the ferry comes from Massachusetts or Maine, but I purposely wanted to keep that a little vague." Despite the town being fictional, much of the filming took place in Massachusetts, including Worcester, Rockport, and Gloucester. Here we take a look at the three of them. 

1) Rockport, Massachusetts 

According to a report by WBZ NewsRadio, the production team of 'Widow's Bay' filmed extensively around Rockport in general and the Bearskin Neck peninsula in particular. Moreover, the town's harbor is a prominent filming location that was previously featured in the Academy Award-winning 2021 drama film 'CODA' and has been featured throughout the Apple TV series. Furthermore, the report also states that a now-abandoned building in Rockport, which once housed an art gallery, was used to create the fictional island town's restaurant 'The Salty Whale'. 

2) Worcester, Massachusetts 

Worcester, west of Boston, served as an important filming location for the show. One of the city's own news outlets reported in 2025 that an Apple TV crew was spotted filming at a local dive bar, Vincent's Bar, which eventually became the Barnabus Tavern on the series. Moreover, it has been claimed that the town hall in Berlin, MA, was used for exterior shots of the mayor's town hall.

3) Gloucester, Massachusetts 

Finally, according to another Northshore report, the Apple TV series used several locations around Gloucester and Cape Ann. While filming was underway, a local artist took a few photos of the cast and crew at Good Harbor Beach. Additional filming locations included Lane's Cove and Vita Bella Ristorante. 'Widow's Bay' is exclusively available on Apple TV.