Derry, Maine

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Lore & Background

The town of Derry was first mentioned in Stephen King's 1975 novel 'Salem's Lot'. While the town would be mentioned in various other stories, it was not until King's 1986 novel It when the town was used as a fully rendered setting. Besides the oft-used trinity of Derry, Castle Rock, and Jerusalem's Lot, King has created other fictional Maine towns, including Haven in The Tommyknockers, Little Tall Island in Dolores Claiborne and Storm of the Century, Chester's Mill in Under the Dome, and Tarker's Mills in Cycle of the Werewolf. In 2016, it was announced that a new adaptation of It would split the novel into a two-part motion picture. During production, the producers of the 2017 film adaptation and its 2019 sequel needed a small town in which to film, and Port Hope, Ontario, was used for much of the exterior work for both films. Some scenes said to be in Derry were shot elsewhere. The synagogue appearing in It Chapter Two was actually the Congregation Knesseth Israel in Toronto, while the Derry High school exteriors were filmed at the Mount Mary Retreat Centre in Ancaster, Ontario. Other Chapter 2 filming locations included the Scottish Rite Club in Hamilton, Ontario, Audley Park in Ajax, Ontario, and Rouge Park in Scarborough, Toronto (as The Barrens). So-called "horror house" exteriors were built for the films; both were located on the same property in Oshawa, Ontario.

In Their Own Story

The house on 29 Neibolt Street is a run-down, abandoned house near the trainyard. It is here where Eddie Kaspbrak first encounters It, which shows itself as a mix between a homeless leper and its familiar Pennywise form. Later, after Eddie tells them his story, Bill and Richie go to investigate the house and are chased off by It, the creature having taken the form of a werewolf in Richie's mind, and Pennywise in Bill's mind. Soon after these incidents, the Losers Club goes back to the house in hopes of confronting It. However, soon after they confront It, the creature disappears into the sewers through a toilet pipe. They, therefore, decide to enter the sewers for their first confrontation with It. During It's 1985 killing spree, the bodies of two children are discovered at the house. One is found across the street from the house, and the other is found underneath the porch with no legs. In the 2017 adaptation and its sequel, 29 Neibolt Street acts as the primary entrance to It's lair and the scene of the Losers Club's first real confrontation with It. The house is built on the location of Derry's old well house where 91 settlers disappeared when Derry was first settled, as well as a central hub for the town's sewer system. At the end of the second film, the house collapses along with It's lair when the Losers Club kills It.

Reader's Guide

The Barrens are a small tract of land still heavily covered in trees and plant life. Derry's landfill is located here, as is a gravel pit and several sewer pump stations. The Barrens play the most prominent role in It, as the Losers adopt them as their home away from home, even building an underground clubhouse there. Most of the Losers have their first meeting here while trying to build a small dam in the Kenduskeag Stream, which runs through the Barrens, and next to Derry. In It Chapter Two, after being thrown into a well, Henry Bowers is washed out of the sewer system into the Barrens by a flash flood. In 11/22/63, Jake Epping has a conversation with young Richie Tozier and Beverly Marsh from the novel It near the Barrens in September 1958, shortly after The Losers defeated It for the first time. A section of the Kenduskeag that runs through downtown Derry is called the Canal. The Canal goes through a tunnel under the streets for a short way and comes out in Bassey Park. In January 1958, a young Ben Hanscom first encounters It walking on top of the frozen surface. A few months later, Eddie Corcoran is decapitated here by It in the form of the Gill-man.

Did You Know?

• Derry first appeared in King's 1975 novel 'Salem's Lot' and has since appeared in later works such as 'The Outsider', 'If It Bleeds', and 'Holly'.
• King explicitly told his biographer Tony Magistrale that Derry is actually his portrayal of Bangor, though a map on King's official website places Derry near the town of Etna.
• The house on 29 Neibolt Street is a separate structure from Derry's old well house; the well house is not built on the same location.
• In the 2017 film adaptation, Port Hope, Ontario was used for much of the exterior work, while the Derry High School exteriors were filmed at the Mount Mary Retreat Centre in Ancaster, Ontario.
• The Kitchener Ironworks explosion in 1906 killed 88 children and 102 total people, and was caused by It sabotaging the equipment.

Origins and Literary Geography

Derry stands as a cornerstone of Stephen King's fictional Maine universe, first emerging in his 1981 short story "The Bird and the Album" before becoming the fully realized setting for his 1986 masterpiece, It. While often described geographically as being near Bangor, King has clarified to biographer Tony Magistrale that Derry is essentially a fictionalized portrait of Bangor itself. Despite this authorial intent, official maps place the town closer to Etna. Alongside Castle Rock and Jerusalem's Lot, Derry forms a trinity of recurring locations in King's bibliography, appearing as recently as the 2011 novel 11/22/63. This specific town is distinct from other fictional Maine settings like Haven or Chester's Mill, serving as a unique nexus where horror and history intertwine across decades of storytelling.

The Haunted Landscape

The geography of Derry is defined by specific, terrifying landmarks that serve as conduits for the entity known as It. The Barrens, a wooded area containing the town's landfill and gravel pit, function as the Losers Club's sanctuary and the site where their first encounters with the monster occur near the Kenduskeag Stream. Nearby lies 29 Neibolt Street, an abandoned house built over a historic well house where ninety-one settlers vanished; this location serves as the primary entrance to It's sewer lair. Other critical sites include the Canal in downtown Derry, where victims like Eddie Corcoran met their end, and the ruins of the Kitchener Ironworks. The latter site witnessed a catastrophic explosion in 1906 that killed over one hundred people during an Easter egg hunt, marking the start of It's hibernation cycle.

Cinematic Realizations

While Derry exists only on the page, its visual representation for global audiences was crafted through extensive filming in Ontario, Canada. For the two-part adaptation of It released in 2017 and 2019, producers utilized Port Hope as the primary stand-in for the town's exterior streetscapes. Specific iconic locations were recreated elsewhere; the synagogue featured in Chapter Two is actually Toronto's Congregation Knesseth Israel, while Derry High School was filmed at the Mount Mary Retreat Centre in Ancaster. The Barrens were portrayed using Rouge Park in Scarborough, and specialized horror house sets were constructed on a single property in Oshawa. These real-world locations allowed filmmakers to translate King's atmospheric descriptions of Maine into tangible, terrifying environments for the screen.

Interconnected Mythos

Derry serves as more than just a setting; it is a vital thread connecting disparate works within Stephen King's broader literary universe. The town appears in Insomnia, where the Derry Civic Center becomes the target of a kamikaze plot orchestrated by the Crimson King from the Dark Tower series to kill a specific child named Patrick Danville. Furthermore, the 2011 novel 11/22/63 features time-traveler Jake Epping interacting with characters like Richie Tozier and Beverly Marsh near Derry's Barrens in September 1958. The Kitchener Ironworks tragedy also links these narratives, as Epping encounters It at the ruins in October of that same year. These crossovers demonstrate how Derry functions as a persistent, malevolent constant across King's multiverse.