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Jaws Bridge on Martha's Vineyard, connecting Edgartown to Oak Bluffs.
Every verified Jaws filming location on Martha's Vineyard. The Jaws Bridge, Edgartown town hall, Menemsha, the Orca, Bruce the shark, and Amity Week.
Martha's Vineyard is Amity Island, and fifty-one years later, almost every filming location still exists. Steven Spielberg's 1975 film was shot almost entirely on the island from May through early October 1974, transforming the quiet whaling towns of Edgartown, Menemsha, and Oak Bluffs into the fictional beach community terrorized by a great white shark. For a broader overview of the island, see our Martha's Vineyard guide. What was supposed to be a 55-day shoot ballooned into 159 grueling days, the mechanical shark barely worked, the budget tripled. And the result invented the summer blockbuster.
Today, Jaws tourism thrives on Martha's Vineyard with guided tours, annual celebrations, a museum exhibition, and a community of "FINatics" who travel from around the world to walk in Chief Brody's footsteps. Here is every verified filming location, what you'll find there today, and how to plan your own pilgrimage to Amity Island. (If someone in your party is asking about the Hallmark Martha's Vineyard Mysteries instead: those are filmed in Canada, and we wrote up the whole story.)
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The story of Jaws on Martha's Vineyard begins with a lucky accident. In late 1973, production designer Joe Alves boarded a ferry from Woods Hole to scout Nantucket, where novelist Peter Benchley summered, but rough seas forced the captain to turn back. Alves exchanged his ticket for the Martha's Vineyard ferry instead, and the moment he stepped ashore, he knew he'd found Amity Island.
Spielberg chose Martha's Vineyard for one critical technical reason: the mechanical shark had to work from a platform on the sea floor, so the production needed sandy, relatively shallow water far enough from land that the camera saw nothing but open horizon. The shoals around the island fit the bill, creating the illusion of deep, dangerous water in what was actually workable filming depth. (A popular retelling claims the bottom never drops below 35 feet for 12 miles offshore. Check a nautical chart and you will find depths past 60 feet off the north shore and 80 feet close to the south shore; the real point is that the crew could find broad shallow stretches that photographed like open ocean.) The island's isolation and the picture-perfect New England character of Edgartown sealed the deal.
Principal photography began May 2, 1974 and was supposed to wrap by late June. Instead, it ran deep into the fall: the wrap party was held at the Harbor View on September 16, 1974, and a small crew stayed on for the last shots, the shark’s exploding head and the final sinking of the Orca II, before the Gazette reported the production gone on October 4. Amblin counts 159 days from the first shot, days that nearly ended careers and instead made the film. Universal was spending $30,000 per day on the island. The original $3.5 million budget ballooned to approximately $8–9 million. Spielberg was 27 years old that summer.
In the film, Amity Island is a fictional town off Long Island, New York. The production transformed Edgartown by installing "Amity" signs over real storefronts ("Amity Hardware," "Amity Bank," an "Amity Island Welcomes You" billboard) while using creative editing to stitch together locations from opposite ends of the island into a single convincing town. Thanks to Martha's Vineyard's strict preservation standards, the vast majority of these locations look almost identical today.
Location: Beach Road / Seaview Avenue, between Oak Bluffs and Edgartown, spanning the inlet to Sengekontacket Pond. Freely accessible, roadside parking. Reachable on VTA Route 13 from Oak Bluffs or Edgartown, fare-free through June 30, 2027.
This is the island's best-known Jaws landmark. In the film, the shark swims under this bridge from the ocean into the "safe" pond, attacking a man in a red rowboat while Brody's son Michael floats nearby in shock. The stone quay running perpendicular to the bridge, where Roy Scheider sprints during the attack, is still there. The two kids with the cardboard shark fin prank were played by Jonathan and Steven Searle, real island locals. Jonathan Searle went on to become the real police chief of Oak Bluffs in 2022.
On summer days you will see people jumping from the bridge into Sengekontacket Pond below. The facts first: posted signs prohibit jumping and diving, MassDOT does not condone it, and the tidal current through the channel is strong. The way to enjoy the scene is from the sand below, which also happens to be the classic Jaws photo angle.
The Jaws Bridge in winter, where Beach Road crosses into Edgartown. Off-season you can have the film's most famous crossing to yourself.
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Location: Beach Road, between Edgartown and Oak Bluffs (ocean side of the Jaws Bridge). Free public beach, accessible by VTA bus.
This public beach (see our beaches guide) served as Amity's main beach for some of the film's most memorable sequences. The Alex Kintner raft attack, the mass beach panic, the crowded scenes with Brody anxiously scanning the water from his chair, and Spielberg's famous dolly zoom shot on Scheider's face as he realizes the shark has struck. All filmed here.
State Beach on a clear summer day: calm Nantucket Sound, a boat offshore and the long sand where the Kintner attack and the beach panic were filmed.
Jeffrey Voorhees, an Edgartown kid from Upper Main Street, walked down to the production office at the Kelley House to sign up as an extra and came out with the speaking part of Alex Kintner. He remembers extras being paid $40 a day and his speaking part $140. The raft attack took five days to film, in June, before Vineyard water had warmed up. Voorhees managed the Wharf on lower Main Street for decades and now leads the four-hour Jaws tour for Homegrown Tours. The beach looks much as it did in 1974.
Jaws 'Beach Closed' sign at Martha's Vineyard Museum.
Edgartown's white clapboard buildings, brick sidewalks, and preserved whaling-village character made it the ideal stand-in for Amity's downtown. Thanks to the town's strict historical preservation standards, these locations still stand. Here is a building-by-building breakdown:
Chief Brody exits the rear entrance onto Davis Lane and walks along South Water Street. Still standing as a private residence; please do not enter the yard, as this has been an ongoing issue with visitors.
The scenes of Brody typing up the shark attack report and working with his secretary Polly were filmed inside this private home, which also served as a production office. Still standing.
The actual Edgartown Town Hall. This is where Quint scratches his fingernails on the chalkboard and gives his "Y'all know me" speech during the tense town meeting. The building still functions as the real Edgartown Town Hall. The interior has been updated since 1974; location hunters who have been inside report that the brown clock from the town meeting scene still hangs on the wall. It is a working town office rather than a museum: during Amity Week 2026 the building opened to fans on set days (Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 10 to 4), so the Amity Week calendar is the easy way in.
Edgartown Town Hall today: the white clapboard front, the twin stairs and the sign over the door. The room where Quint scratched the chalkboard is inside, and the building still runs the town.
Brody marches here to buy supplies for "Beach Closed" signs. The building has been home to Boneyard Surf Co., which announced in September 2026 that it is closing; the owners' menswear shop Dune is moving into the space. The original "Amity Hardware" prop sign still hangs inside Edgartown Hardware, which moved off Main Street in 2011 and is now at 61 West Tisbury Road (closed Sundays). One of the island's best-preserved Jaws artifacts and worth the detour.
The interior hardware store scenes were filmed here, now home to The Port Hunter, a seafood restaurant and a great stop for dinner after a location tour (in season it opens at 5:30 PM, Monday to Saturday).
The grieving Mrs. Kintner (played by local drama teacher Lee Fierro) publicly slaps Chief Brody at this waterfront location. The scene required a remarkable 17 takes. Fierro initially refused the role because the script contained swearing; the dialogue was rewritten for her. She spent some 40 years with Island Theatre Workshop, as associate artistic director and then artistic director, and died in 2020 at 91.
The old Edgartown National Bank played Amity’s bank, and the branch that took it over still keeps its “Amity Bank” sign from the original film inside. Worth stepping in during banking hours.
The waterfront area around Memorial Wharf and Dock Street served as Amity's harbor. Matt Hooper's arrival by boat, the incorrect tiger shark being strung up for inspection, the fishermen loading boats after the bounty is posted, and the Mrs. Kintner confrontation all took place along this stretch.
The Chappy ferry slip beside Memorial Wharf, with the harbor and the Chappaquiddick shore beyond: the crossing the film made famous.
The Chappaquiddick Ferry at 53 Dock Street is where Mayor Vaughn pressures Brody into calling Chrissie's death a "boating accident" rather than a shark attack. The tiny ferry (carrying pedestrians, bikes, and up to three cars) has barely changed since 1974 and runs every day of the year: 6:30 AM to midnight in summer, and on the winter schedule from October 18, 2026, 6:30 AM to 10 PM plus one last run from 11 to 11:15 PM. A round trip on foot is $5, and the crossing takes about two minutes.
The On Time III making its 527-foot crossing today, the same waterfront that played Amity’s harbor.
The Old Sculpin Gallery at 58 Dock Street sits directly across from the Chappy Ferry landing. Production designer Joe Alves based the design of Quint's shack on this building, which is worth a look even though the shack itself was built across the island in Menemsha.
Menemsha fishing village, featured as Amity Island harbor in Jaws.
Location: Menemsha Harbor, North Road, Chilmark. About 30 minutes by car from Edgartown; free public access to the harbor area.
The fishing village of Menemsha doubled as the working waterfront where Quint lived. Quint's shack was built specifically for the film at approximately 513 North Road, on the harbor inlet between the General Store and what is now the Menemsha Galley restaurant (515 North Road). The three-story shack, the only land set the production built, was briefly the tallest building on the Menemsha waterfront and was torn down as soon as its scenes were shot. The lot has been vacant ever since, sitting empty between the restaurant and general store as if waiting for Spielberg to return.
This is also where the Orca sets sail: the sequence of Quint, Brody, and Hooper heading out on their shark hunt was filmed with Menemsha's working harbor as the backdrop. The harbor looks almost identical to 1974. While you're here, Menemsha is famous for its sunset views and is one of the best spots on the island to watch the sun go down over the water. Lunch is right next to the empty lot: the Menemsha Galley at 515 North Road (shorter hours after summer; 11 to 3 daily in early October 2026), and Larsen’s Fish Market on Basin Road, open daily through October 18 in 2026.
South Beach at Katama, where the film’s beach scenes were shot: open Atlantic, dune face and not much else.
The film's opening sequence was shot across multiple locations. The beach bonfire party was filmed at South Beach (Katama Beach) in Edgartown. The actual swimming and attack scenes were filmed at Cow Bay in Edgartown, chosen for its shallower water, which allowed the mechanical shark rigging to be installed. The underwater point-of-view shots looking up at Chrissie from below were filmed off Santa Catalina Island, California, where the water was clearer.
Cow Bay’s beach belongs to a private association, so there is no public access; the nearest public sand is Bend in the Road Beach on Beach Road, with private Cow Bay Beach in view along the shore. South Beach is still a public barrier beach, the same sand the film opens on.
The exterior of Chief Brody's family home was a private residence on East Chop, near the East Chop Lighthouse. Unfortunately, the original house was demolished to the first floor in 2002 and completely rebuilt on the old foundation. The property is privately owned; guided tours deliberately don't stop there out of respect for the residents.
East Chop Drive where it bends along the bluff above Vineyard Sound, the road that runs past the Brody house address.
The scene where Brody and Hooper argue with Mayor Vaughn about closing the beaches was filmed at the island's westernmost point, with the Gay Head Lighthouse clearly visible in the background. The "Amity Island Welcomes You" billboard, famously vandalized with a painted shark fin, was a temporary set piece and is long gone. The lighthouse has moved too: with the cliff edge eroding toward it, Gay Head Light was rolled 129 feet inland in May 2015, so it stands a little farther back than it does in the film. The overlook is free (the short-term spaces at the Circle give you 90 minutes in season), VTA Route 5 runs out to the cliffs about once an hour in summer, and the views of the cliffs and lighthouse are still worth the trip.
Gay Head Light in low evening sun above the road in Aquinnah. The tower in the billboard scene stood closer to the cliff edge; it was moved 129 feet inland in 2015.
The Orca's shark hunt was filmed in the open water off East Chop and Oak Bluffs, the crew running far enough out that no land showed in the frame. When open-ocean conditions proved too brutal, the crew retreated to Katama Bay, the protected water between South Beach and Chappaquiddick, for many of the climactic sequences. The final shot of Brody and Hooper swimming to shore was filmed at Cape Poge on Chappaquiddick Island.
The original Orca was a 42-foot lobster boat that Joe Alves found in Marblehead, Massachusetts; the crew added the pulpit, the burgundy and black paint and the oversized windows. After filming it was shipped to Universal in Hollywood and sold, and once the film became a phenomenon Universal bought it back, reportedly for ten times the price, and kept it on the studio backlot. Around 1996 it disappeared; one story says it cracked in half while being lifted for repairs, and its fate is still a mystery.
A skiff heading out of Edgartown harbor toward the open water, the direction the boat scenes were shot in the summer of 1974.
The stunt double Orca II, a fiberglass replica built to sink on command, once went down deeper than planned and took two Panavision cameras with it. Marine mechanic Lynn Murphy, who ran Menemsha Marine Repair and kept the boats and sharks working for the production, bought it for $1 after filming. The hull sat on his beach in Menemsha for three decades while fans carried off pieces, and in 2005 the Murphys cut what was left into one-square-foot souvenirs. For the 50th anniversary in June 2025, marine carpenter Michael Sterling and his son Jack built a faithful full-size Orca replica that was displayed at Oak Bluffs Harbor, where Richard Dreyfuss came aboard and sang "Show Me the Way to Go Home."
Three full-sized, 25-foot mechanical sharks were built for filming, nicknamed "Bruce" after Spielberg's lawyer Bruce Ramer. They cost approximately $500,000. The catastrophic problem: Bruce performed perfectly in freshwater tests in California, but nobody tested saltwater compatibility. When lowered into the Atlantic off Martha's Vineyard, the first shark sank straight to the bottom. Saltwater corroded the hydraulics, caused the neoprene skin to balloon, and fractured metal frames.
This disaster forced Spielberg to show less of the shark and suggest its presence instead: through John Williams' two-note theme, point-of-view shots from below, yellow flotation barrels, and the actors' terrified reactions. The result turned a creature feature into a suspense film, and a better one. As critics have noted, Jaws became more believable the moment they got rid of the shark.
One surviving promotional shark is now on permanent display at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, restored by Greg Nicotero.
Craig Kingsbury (1912–2002), a Martha's Vineyard farmer and fisherman, played Ben Gardner and served as the real-life model for Quint. Universal hired him so Robert Shaw could shadow him; audiotapes of Kingsbury's voice were made for Shaw to study. Spielberg called Kingsbury "the purest version of who, in my mind, Quint was." Many of Kingsbury's phrases became Quint's dialogue. A documentary about him, The Farmer and the Shark, was screened at the MV Museum in August 2025. The museum's 2025 Jaws show displayed a Ben Gardner head from a private collection; press accounts differ on whether it was the original prop or a collector's faithful reproduction.
Bow Van Riper, now the MV Museum's research librarian and the island's foremost Jaws historian, was 11 in 1974, when an assistant with a bullhorn called for volunteers at State Beach and he splashed in the water as an extra in the cardboard-fin scene.
Lee Fierro, Mrs. Kintner on screen, came back to the role in Jaws: The Revenge (1987), but on the island she was Island Theatre Workshop’s longtime artistic director, who taught an estimated 3,000 children over four decades and liked to say she did not want to be defined by one slap and a few lines. She died in 2020 at 91.
The Harbor View Hotel in Edgartown housed the principal cast throughout filming. Still operating today, it anchors much of the annual Amity Week programming. The Kelley House (now Faraway MV) served as Universal's base of operations, with casting sessions and production offices. Bob Carroll, who owned both hotels, asked Universal for a nonrefundable $25,000 deposit on 50 rooms and got it; by his own estimate his businesses made more than $1 million from the filming.
Organized by the Edgartown Board of Trade and held annually each June, Amity Week is the island's official celebration of Jaws and its community. The 2026 edition (June 20–27) has come and gone; recent programs have included walking tours, the "Drink Like Quint" Narragansett Jaws Lager promotion at Rosewater Wine (65 Main Street), a Barks and Sharks dog costume contest at Edgartown Lighthouse, sandcastle competitions at Jaws Bridge, shark-themed ice cream at Mad Martha's, movie screenings, book signings, kayak tours with trivia, and cast appearances. Each year’s schedule is posted at amityweek.org; the 2027 dates had not been announced as of early October 2026 (the 2026 week opened on June 20, the anniversary of the film’s 1975 release). Our events calendar lists them once they are announced.
Held at The Wharf Pub in Edgartown in June 2026, this ticketed event featured meet-and-greets with cast members including Jeffrey Kramer (Deputy Hendricks), Jeffrey Voorhees (Alex Kintner), and the Searle brothers. Events include a cosplay costume contest, Quint impersonation contest, book signings, live music, '70s karaoke, and the Orca birthday celebration with cake. Doors open 5 PM–9 PM with "Amity After Dark" until 1 AM. Tickets and info at returntoamity.com.
The Harbor View Hotel also ran Amity Weekend programming June 18–21, 2026; harborviewhotel.com is where its 2027 dates will appear.
The Edgartown Tour Company runs the "Amity Tour of JAWS," a one-hour walking tour through downtown Edgartown filming locations at $45 adults / $35 kids (confirm current rates when booking). The guide uses an iPad to play actual film clips at each real location. Its four-hour private Amity Island Charter covers the island-wide locations (from $859.55 for the group in its booking system). Book at edgartowntours.com or call (508) 203-1853.
Filmed June 2026
Homegrown Tours runs the four-hour “Ultimate Jawsome Jaws Tour” with Jeffrey Voorhees, Alex Kintner himself, leading it and telling the stories from the shoot. Book at homegrowntoursllc.com.
A guided Jaws walking tour on Main Street in Edgartown.
The free SetJetters app lets you search Jaws scenes, align your camera with original film shots using "ShotSync," and self-guide through locations at your own pace.
The Martha's Vineyard Museum at 151 Lagoon Pond Road, Vineyard Haven, runs a follow-up exhibition to the 2025 "Jaws at 50" show, which drew more than 20,000 visitors in three months. The follow-up, "Jaws at 50: An Island Story" in the Beim Gallery, highlights the islanders who built sets, piloted boats and stepped in front of the camera, and runs through December 31, 2026. From early October to late May the museum is open Tuesday to Sunday, 10 to 4 (adults $21, seniors $18, ages 7 to 17 $7, 6 and under free), and it is a 10-minute walk from the Vineyard Haven ferry terminal. Details at mvmuseum.org.
All locations below are freely accessible unless noted. Allow 6–8 hours for the full circuit; Menemsha and Aquinnah take a car, a bike or a couple of VTA buses (the route-by-route list is below the itinerary).
Amity Island in a day
The locations fall into three groups, which is why one loop works: downtown Edgartown on foot, Beach Road by bus or bike, and up-island by car, bus or a long ride. The Chamber of Commerce’s own walking route through the downtown sites covers less than a mile in 60 to 90 minutes. To fit the loop around the rest of your days, add it in our trip planner, which prints the plan.
A Route 13 bus crossing the Jaws Bridge with anglers on the fishing platform beside it: the way to the bridge without hunting for a parking space.
Edgartown’s Main Street and North Water Street, the film’s Amity, are at their best an hour after sunrise, before the shops open and while there are no cars on the street. State Beach faces east over Nantucket Sound, so mornings put the sun over the water; the frame that works is the bridge and the beach together from the sand on the Oak Bluffs side, or the bridge from the water’s edge on the pond side with the tide running through. Menemsha harbor shines in the morning, when the boats come in and the light is on the shacks, and Gay Head Light belongs to dusk, from the overlook path. The Chappy ferry crosses every few minutes past Memorial Wharf, so that one takes no planning at all. More of these in our photo spots guide.
Rosewater Wine and Spirits (65 Main Street, Edgartown): Narragansett Jaws Lager and Jaws-themed wine. Mad Martha's Ice Cream: Shark Attack (vanilla with raspberry and white chocolate), made for the 50th in 2025 and since brought back as a limited-time flavor of the week. Pirate’s Puzzle Escape Room (23 Winter Street, Edgartown): The Jaws Experience, set aboard a replica Orca. Soft As a Grape (41 Dock Street, Edgartown): the island T-shirt shop Steven Spielberg himself dropped into in July 2022, by the store’s own post. CB Stark Jewelers (10 Main Street): Jaws collection including Bruce the shark charms and Amity Island sign charms, made by the same jeweler who created the original rings worn by Chrissie in the film. Bunch of Grapes Bookstore: Jaws: Memories from Martha's Vineyard by Matt Taylor and shark-themed gifts.
Want to walk these locations with a local guide? See our Martha’s Vineyard Jaws Tour guide: how to book the “Amity” Walking Tour with longtime guide Mike Currid.
Film clip scenes, tour schedules, and event dates can change season to season. Verify 2026 tour availability at edgartowntours.com and amityweek.org. Private property noted above should be respected. Admire from the street only. Posted signs prohibit jumping and diving here, and the tidal current through the channel is strong. The view from the beach is the one to come for.Book Martha’s Vineyard Experiences
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Step 1 · WhenMonth PickerTwelve months compared on NOAA numbers, crowds, prices and what is open. 
Step 2 · DaysDay-by-Day Trip PlannerMorning, afternoon and evening sketched for every day, events dropped in, emailed to you. 
Step 3 · CostTrip Cost CalculatorFerry, beds with the rooms tax, meals, getting around and activities in one honest range. It is the American Legion Memorial Bridge on Beach Road between Oak Bluffs and Edgartown, over the inlet to Sengekontacket Pond. Parking is free along the road, and VTA Route 13 (fare-free through June 30, 2027) runs along Beach Road from Oak Bluffs and Edgartown. Posted signs prohibit jumping and diving, and the current is strong, so take the photo from the sand.
Yes, if you allow six to eight hours. Downtown Edgartown, Memorial Wharf and the Chappy Ferry are walkable; the Jaws Bridge and State Beach are a short bus or bike ride away. Menemsha and the Aquinnah cliffs take a car, a bike or VTA buses (Routes 3 and 4 to Menemsha, Route 5 to Aquinnah).
The Edgartown Tour Company runs a one-hour walking tour of the downtown locations, with film clips played at each spot, at $45 for adults and $35 for kids (confirm when booking). For the whole island, Homegrown Tours runs a four-hour tour led by Jeffrey Voorhees, who played Alex Kintner. We reviewed the walk in our Jaws tour guide.
Not really. The Brody house on East Chop is a private home, rebuilt on the old foundation in 2002, and tours skip it on purpose. Quint's shack was built for the film and torn down right after; the lot in Menemsha Harbor is still empty, and you can stand beside it for free.
Every June in Edgartown; the 2026 edition ran June 20 to 27, with the Return to Amity cast weekend on June 20 and 21. The 2027 dates had not been announced as of early October 2026; amityweek.org posts them first. Our June guide has the full calendar.
Yes. The Martha's Vineyard Museum in Vineyard Haven is showing "Jaws at 50: An Island Story" through December 31, 2026, a smaller follow-up to the 2025 show about the islanders who built sets, piloted boats and stepped in front of the camera. From early October to late May it is open Tuesday to Sunday, 10 to 4, and adult admission is $21.
Mostly, yes. Downtown Edgartown, Memorial Wharf and the Chappy Ferry are a short walk apart. VTA Route 13 runs along Beach Road past State Beach and the Jaws Bridge, and the paved path beside it makes the same trip an easy ride of about 6 miles between Edgartown and Oak Bluffs. Up-island, Routes 3 and 4 reach Menemsha and Route 5 reaches the Aquinnah cliffs. VTA buses are fare-free through June 30, 2027; check the timetable for the season you visit.
Three places, all free to look at: the “Amity Bank” sign inside Rockland Trust at 2 South Water Street in Edgartown, the “Amity Hardware” sign inside Edgartown Hardware at 61 West Tisbury Road (closed Sundays), and, for museum admission, the “Jaws at 50: An Island Story” show in Vineyard Haven through December 31, 2026.
Yes. Every outdoor location is there all year, and in the colder months you will often have the bridge and Memorial Wharf nearly to yourself. The Chappy Ferry runs year-round (winter hours from October 18), and the two prop signs are there in business hours. Tours and many restaurants are seasonal, so check before you go; our trip planner has a do-it-yourself Jaws stop for those months, and the cost calculator compares what a trip costs by season.
Our own footage: downtown Edgartown, State Beach, Menemsha and Aquinnah.
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