Throughout its seven-season run on NBC, The West Wing charmed and uplifted audiences with an optimistic perspective on governance at its best. What added a sense of realism to the show’s portrayal of American politics were the locations used in many of the episodes.

Though much of The West Wing was filmed on sound stages in Los Angeles, real locations were often used to lend authenticity to the show’s most memorable scenes. These episodes are some of the hardest-hitting and most impactful of the show, proving that sometimes there is no replacement for real locations.

10 Josh, Donna and Toby Get Stuck in Pittsburgh Posing as Indiana

Though elections can be a bad time to release blockbuster movies, they presented many of the best excuses The West Wing found to get out of the studios and into real locations. In “20 Hours in America,” President Bartlet is in Indiana as part of his campaign for re-election against Governor Robert Ritchie, a folksy Floridian who was clearly meant to stand in for current real-life President George W. Bush. When the motorcade forgets Josh, Donna and Toby at a rally, so the three are forced to hitchhike their way across the state to try and find a way back to Washington D.C.

The West Wing used parts of rural Pennsylvania to emulate small towns in the midwest, using a farm in Lawrence County as the location for President Bartlet’s campaign rally. The crew of the show even converted a small library in Bridgeville, a suburb just outside of Pittsburgh, into a train station for the scene where our wayward lawmakers end up heading in the wrong direction.

9 The Cast Gets to Step Right Outside the Studio When President Bartlet Visits L.A.

Another time an episode was set largely outside the Warner Brothers Studio lots was when The West Wing put a Season 1 episode in Los Angeles itself, giving the show an excuse to wink at the connection between Hollywood and Washington in a fun and meta way. “20 Hours in L.A.” follows President Bartlet and his team as they fly to California for a fundraising event with Ted Marcus, a Hollywood bigwig meant to emulate the billionaires that often funnel massive amounts of money into political campaigns.

Lots of exterior shots for the episode were filmed throughout the city, namely in the neighborhood of Westchester. The Sheraton Universal Hotel was also used in the episode, for the awkward scene where Josh tries to ask out polling consultant Joey Lucas, only to discover she is already sleeping with someone else.

8 Ontario, Canada Stood in for Small Town New Hampshire

Later seasons of the show mine even more material out of America’s lengthy election process, when Josh Lyman leaves his job at the White House to try and get little-known Congressional representative Matthew Santos the Democratic nomination for President. Much of the first stretch of episodes surrounding the primary race took place in New Hampshire, the site of the first round of primary voting in the United States.

The West Wing used the towns of Port Perry and Dundas in Ontario, Canada as a stand-in for rural New England in the episode “Freedonia”, where Josh’s scrappy campaign tries to weasel their way into a debate that could secure more votes for Santos. Though Port Perry might be more famous now for being the shooting location of the smash-hit action showReacher, it was first used for a number of exterior shots as Santos and others frantically campaigned for New Hampshire votes.

7 President Bartlet Attends a Concert at the Real Kennedy Center

The West Wing frequently traveled outside the facsimile of Washington D.C. they built on studio sound stages to the actual capital city, intending for the show to feel more genuine by placing its characters in legitimate locations around the District of Columbia. In the episode “Galileo,” President Bartlet must attend a performance by the Reykjavík Symphony Orchestra to save face from a recent incident where he insulted the Icelandic Ambassador.

The show filmed these scenes in the real John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a concert venue that has played host to a celebration of five influential artists called the Kennedy Center Honors every year since the 70s. The episode makes the most of the gorgeous interior of the location as the characters juggle a host of crises, including a nuclear disaster in Russia and the lost signal of a NASA probe called Galileo V.

6 The President’s Manchester Farm Is Actually in Virginia

President Bartlet is described as being practically New Hampshire royalty on The West Wing, having been both the Governor of the state and a member of Congress as the Representative of New Hampshire’s 1st district. So when the President decides to run for re-election despite the controversy surrounding hiding his multiple sclerosis diagnosis from the public, it’s no wonder he and his team decide to hunker down and figure out their campaign strategy at his farm in Manchester.

In the two-part Season 3 premiere “Manchester,” Bluemont, Virginia is used instead of New Hampshire due to the financial restrictions of shooting the episode in the real Manchester. After looking at over 50 locations to try and find a place that could become the Bartlet farm, the West Wing production team decided to use the home of former Purcellville mayor John Marsh.

5 A Crisis in the Middle East Is Brokered in This Fictional Camp David

Camp David is one of the most famous locations in America, a country retreat where the President of the United States typically spends holidays or meets with important political figures. The West Wing travels to the site once over the course of the show, when President Bartlet invites representatives from Israel and Palestine there for a multi-day Peace Summit.

Seeing as it would be impossible for even one of the best TV shows of all time to film at Camp David, The West Wing staged its fictional negotiations at a 110-acre nature preserve in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains. Because this environmental education center is actually only a few miles away from the real Camp David, “The Birnam Wood” is able to authentically capture the muggy and ethereal atmosphere surrounding this tense episode.

4 President Bartlet Addresses Georgetown University

Early on in the very first season of The West Wing, audiences were introduced to President Bartlet’s youngest daughter, Zoey, as she begins her first year of school at Washington D.C.’s Georgetown University. Several seasons and four in-universe years later, Zoey is ready to graduate from college and President Bartlet is asked to make the commencement speech at the ceremony.

Georgetown University agreed to be used for the filming of “Commencement,” staging a fake ceremony with real faculty and students as extras just weeks before the class of 2003 was set to graduate. Georgetown’s Director of Protocol and Events gets a special cameo as the person who dons President Bartlet’s hood before he heads on stage to make his big speech.

3 Rosslyn, Virginia Is the Backdrop for This Harrowing Season Finale

“What Kind of Day Has It Been?” is the explosive final episode of one of the best opening seasons of dramatic television ever made, ending with President Bartlet and his team under fire by a pair of teenage neo-Nazis. The episode ties together loose threads from the previous 20 episodes, namely the constantly building threat that racist extremists are upset that the President’s daughter is dating his Black personal aide Charlie.

The shooting sequence, set just after the President has conducted a town hall for young voters, was filmed on the steps of what used to be a museum dedicated to news and journalism called the Newseum in Rosslyn, Virginia. In one shot of the sequence, where one of the shooters is prepping his weapon, the audience can see a part of the Berlin Wall that used to be an exhibit at the museum.

2 Arlington National Cemetery Was Used to Honor a Fictional War Veteran

The first West Wing holiday special, “In Excelsis Deo,” is a tear-jerking look at how the United States government fails those who sacrificed everything for their country in military conflicts throughout the 20th Century. The episode follows Toby’s attempts to track down the brother of a Korean War veteran experiencing homelessness, who died on a park bench in the National Mall on a particularly cold December night.

At the end of the episode, Toby is able to arrange for the veteran to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, the largest cemetery in the United States National Cemetery System. Though the location is typically closed off to this kind of filming, the United States Department of Defense allowed The West Wing to film the funeral scene in the real location in an effort to spread more awareness about the needs of America’s veteran population.

1 West Wing’s Best Episode Took Advantage of Striking Real Locations

Widely considered to be the best episode of The West Wing, “Two Cathedrals” is one of the most emotional episodes of television ever. Two excellent locations are used in the episode, as President Bartlet struggles to decide whether to run for re-election in the wake of both his multiple sclerosis scandal and the death of his long-time secretary Mrs. Landingham.

The episode was filmed at St. Andrew’s School in Delaware during the flashback sequences of Bartlet’s adolescence, the same school that was used to film the classic 1980s period drama Dead Poets Society. The episode also uses the National Cathedral for Mrs. Landingham’s funeral, during which the President puts out a cigarette on the tile floor, which caused the cathedral to ban any film production from ever shooting there again.