Peyton Place, a fictional New England town
Shangri La came to represent purity, genuine joys, and a quiet living. Peyton Place changed for the worst. Peyton Place, which first appeared in a book in 1956, was a composite of numerous villages in New Hampshire. Peyton Place's calm exterior veiled adultery, murder, abortion, incest, social inequities, and other topics at the time that were taboo. Book was denounced by religious authorities and moralists due to its extremely contentious subject matter, and as a result, it sold a lot of copies. Additionally, it gave rise to a daytime soap opera, two movies, a sequel novel, and a primetime television series. Peyton Place eventually evolved into a two-word expression for shady dealings, scandalous activity, and other similar actions.
The only information provided about the town's location in the book was that it was in New Hampshire, close to the Vermont state line. Later, Peyton Place in Massachusetts was found on television. Both the movie and the television program had to deal with censors, so they were far less sexually explicit than the book. The majority of the movie was filmed in Camden, Maine, a charming New England town that has continued to capitalize on its association with Peyton Place. But Grace Metalious, the book's author, did not draw her ideas for the fictitious town and its sleazy activities from the movie. She thought it was lame because it didn't include some of the most scandalous things she had written.
Gilmanton, where Metalious grew up and penned the book, as well as the adjacent towns of Laconia, Belmont, and Alton, helped to define Peyton Place. The fame she gave her hometown didn't make it feel good. Her kids were harassed at school and she got anonymous threats. A few of the book's more graphic scenes were based on actual occurrences in Grace's life in Gilmanton. The community that served as the main backdrop for the most of the novel and its later adaptations keeps its distance from Peyton Place and the wandering daughter who gave it its name.
- Location: New Hampshire
