What Only The Biggest Fans Know About Hallmark's Chesapeake Shores

The Hallmark Channel had experienced so much success with its movies — particularly the holiday-themed ones — that by the mid-2010s, the cable channel began venturing into producing its own series. That led to the 2015 announcement of a new series that had just been greenlit, "Chesapeake Shores."

Debuting the following year, the series focuses on Abby O'Brien (Meghan Ory), a divorced mom living in New York City who is juggling her demanding career while looking after her two young daughters. She decides to pay a visit to her family in her hometown of Chesapeake Shores, a bucolic oceanfront town on the Maryland coast. Returning home makes Abby realize what's been missing from her life as she reconnects with her father (Treat Williams), her grandmother (Diane Ladd), and her high-school sweetheart (Jesse Metcalfe), a musician who, like Abby, has recently returned to Chesapeake Shores. 

The show proved to be a Hallmark hit, running for six seasons until coming to an end in October 2022. As beloved as the show was — and continues to be — there's a lot that even the most diehard devotees may not know. Read on to discover what only the biggest fans know about Hallmark's "Chesapeake Shores."

When the debut episode of "Chesapeake Shores" arrived in August 2016, it's fair to say it wasn't exactly a favorite of television critics. Writing for The New York Times, reviewer Neil Genzlinger managed to deride both the series and the books from which they sprang in his opening sentence: "Here in Cliché Shores, you can live a quiet, sanitized life surrounded by all those hackneyed themes and characters you expect from lightweight escapist paperbacks."

The AV Club's Gwen Ihnat offered a slightly less brutal assessment, but it wasn't exactly a rave. The review described the show as "light but still effective escapism," and pointed out its biggest flaw: the fact that it was beyond obvious that Abby and her former flame, Trace, were going to get together.

Of course, as any television exec will confirm, glowing reviews may be nice, but it's ratings that matter — and "Chesapeake Shores" definitely delivered in that department. According to a Hallmark Channel press release announcing the series' renewal for a second season, the first season landed as "Hallmark Channel's most-watched series in the network's history" among females ages 25-54 and overall viewers within the same age range. 

Among the various characters introduced in the two-hour "Chesapeake Shores" pilot was Axel, a golden retriever owned by Trace (Jesse Metcalfe). Within just a few episodes, however, Trace's four-legged friend was no longer a golden retriever — he had miraculously become a German shepherd.

Asked about the canine swap, "Chesapeake Shores" executive producer John Tinker (who uses the pseudonym "Nunnaya Beeswax" on social media), offered an explanation. "Sweet dog that it is, the golden was not very attentive and was easily distracted and so was replaced when it came time to do the series," he wrote. "Ace (Axel's real name) is a wonderful, alert, intelligent German shepherd. He'd have to be; when he's not acting on CS, he's a working, bomb-sniffing canine!" The official "Chesapeake Shores" Facebook account confirmed that latter nugget of info, revealing that Ace has indeed been specially trained to sniff out explosives. 

"From what I understand, the dog in the first couple episodes didn't pay attention," actor Brittany Willacy (who played country singer Leigh Corley in the show) said in an interview with Until the Meeting. "They needed a dog that was more obeying to commands, so they went with a German shepherd."

While "Chesapeake Shores" is set on the east coast of Maryland, the show is actually filmed on a whole other coast — and country. As Baltimore Fishbowl pointed out, the series is shot on Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The exterior shots were filmed in the coastal island town of Qualicum and nearby Parksville, as well as the city of Nanaimo. As TV Over Mind noted, one location that should be familiar to viewers, the Chesapeake Shores Flower Shop, was in reality Smithford's, a Qualicum Beach retailer that closed its doors in 2021.  

The Hallmark Channel films much of its programming in British Columbia, particularly in the cities of Vancouver and Victoria. It's a win-win proposition for both the network and the communities where filming takes place. "It's been a really great economic generator for our region," said Vancouver Island North Film Commission's Joan Miller in an interview with Chek News. 

Hallmark is attracted by British Columbia's tax incentives, which have resulted in numerous films and movie productions being filmed there over the years. "There is no question tax credits are a big part of it, and also the dollar — the exchange on the dollar is a big factor," Allan Harmon, who's directed more than a dozen Hallmark movies, told CBC News.

In the spring of 2022, the Hallmark Channel issued an announcement that held both good and bad news for fans of "Chesapeake Shores." Announcing that the show would be returning for a sixth season, the network also confirmed that it would be the show's last. "With a top-notch ensemble cast and creative team, 'Chesapeake Shores' has shared stories that are relatable, poignant, and unforgettable," said Hallmark Channel's Laurie Ferneau in a statement to Deadline. "We look forward to honoring the journey viewers have been on with the O'Briens with one final, special season."

Actor Mariesa Crouse — who played Margaret Keller, law partner and girlfriend of Connor O'Brien (Andrew Francis) — told Parade that filming the final episode was rough. "My heart is breaking slowly," Crouse admitted. "The last days of filming were so sad. When we got to the end, it felt like we needed a little more time together before it ended. It was extremely bittersweet filming the last little bit of 'Chesapeake.' We were all crying at the end of it."

Fans of "Chesapeake Shores" faced some bad news during the show's fifth season, when the Hallmark Channel revealed that star Jesse Metcalfe was planning to exit the series (via Us Weekly). However, the good news for fans was that the announcement also confirmed Metcalfe would continue to appear in Hallmark movies. 

Speaking with Entertainment Tonight about his departure, Metcalfe explained that his decision to leave came after he received the first few scripts for the fifth season. "That creative relationship was not really established this time around," he said. "I just felt that there wasn't really anything else I could do with the character."

Of course, Metcalfe pointed out, Trace wasn't being killed off, so there was always the possibility the character could return at some point, even if it was for a guest spot. "Trace didn't die. It's not the end of the road for Trace," Metcalfe said. "He could always come back to Chesapeake Shores. It's possible."

The "Chesapeake Shores" fanbase is fiercely loyal, to the point that aficionados of the show actually had their own nickname: Chessies. The ultra-hardcore fans had the opportunity to dive even deeper into each episode by listening to "The Chesapeake Shores Podcast," an after-show podcast. Each podcast episode was devoted to discussing the episode of the show that had just aired on the Hallmark Channel.

In addition to offering rundowns of each episode, the podcast also welcomed special guests, including "Chesapeake Shores" actor Andrew Francis and Sheryl Anderson, showrunner of Netflix's "Sweet Magnolias," based on the book series from author Sherryl Woods. 

That wasn't the only podcast destination for fans. They could also avail themselves of "Dear Hallmark," a podcast devoted to the Hallmark Channel's voluminous programming — including episodes devoted entirely to "Chesapeake Shores." In addition, the "But Make It Hallmark" podcast offered a farewell episode mourning the end of the series.