Principal photography took place in the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina. The Biltmore Estate, Lake James, and Chimney Rock Park were primary locations.

The unspoiled woodlands of rural New York in 1757 were played by the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina of 1991. Mann spent a reported $6 million just to build the Fort William Henry set to historical specifications.

Located in Asheville, the Biltmore Estate served as the backdrop for the bulk of the filming. The distinguished brick arch, where Major Heyward and his troops rode upon his arrival in Albany, is located south of Asheville.

The Bridal Veil Falls, located west of Lake Julia, is where the party found temporary shelter in a cave hidden behind a waterfall. In the script, the location is called the Glen Falls Caves. In the real sense, there’s no cave behind the Bridal Fall. A studio set is where they filmed the cave scenes, and that’s when Hawkeye delivered his famous line, “ You stay alive. I will find you…no matter how far, how long it takes…”