Page 29 - ARUBA TODAY

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PEOPLE & ARTS Monday 24 June 2019
District 12 of 'The Hunger Games' is now a historic place

By MARTHA WAGGONER they could build homes for
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — What their extended family when
would the folks in the Capi- they found the mill village.
tol think? District 12 is now The front door of the brick
on the National Register of building that once was the
Historic Places. company store and served
The Henry River Mill Vil- as Mellark Bakery in the
lage, which served as the movie was screwed shut
home of the three main with a piece of plywood,
characters from the origi- and the inside looked like
nal "The Hunger Games," an episode of "Hoarders,"
was named a historic Reyes said.
place last month and an- Still, the three of them were
nounced by state officials charmed. They toured the
earlier this week. It's a des- property one afternoon
ignation that the new own- and had it under con-
ers sought for the 72-acre tract the next day, paying
(29-hectare) property be- $360,000 — a bargain con-
cause they "wanted to be sidering the previous owner
the ones who got this prop- once was asking $1.4 mil-
erty the recognition it de- lion. That owner, Wade
serves," said Calvin Reyes, Shepherd, died in 2015,
who bought the village in two years before the vil-
2017 with his mother and lage sold. This undated photo made available by Calvin Reyes, shows buildings in an abandoned mill vil-
stepfather. "We knew from the begin- lage near Asheville, NC., that was used in the first "Hunger Games" movie. Associated Press
When "The Hunger Games" ning that we wanted to
was filmed in North Caro- save these houses," Reyes
lina in 2011, the mill village said. "We're not preserva-
served as the home of Kat- tionists or developers. But
niss, Peeta and Gale. But it spoke to us, and it was
when Reyes talks about the something we wanted to
proper recognition, he's not do."
referring merely to the film- Shepherd, had complained
ing of a box office smash. about visitors and vandals
"People come for 'The Hun- even before "The Hunger
ger Games,' but they stay Games" opened. Now the
for the history," Reyes said property is protected by
in a phone interview Thurs- cameras, lights and tours
day. that take place five days a
That history began about week. In addition, a "Hun-
1905 when the Henry River ger Games" tour group
Manufacturing Co. estab- brings visitors on weekends.
lished the mill in Hildebran Since some people believe
in western North Caro- the property is haunted,
lina, about 70 miles (112 paranormal tours also are
km) east of Asheville. The available.
mill, which closed in 1970, The National Park Service
burned down in 1977. It manages the historic plac-
now includes a two-story es register, which doesn't
company store and about limit what an owner can do
20 wood-frame textile with their property. How-
workers' homes. ever, the designation may
The historic places nomina- make property owners eli-
tion form says "the aban- gible for preservation funds
doned site took on the ap- and federal historic tax
pearance of a ghost town" credits.
in the two decades after Author Suzanne Collins an-
the mill burned, with 14 nounced earlier this week
houses lost to decay and that she's releasing a pre-
the boarding house demol- quel to her trilogy about a
ished. post-apocalyptic world. It's
Despite the decay, the mill set for release next year.
village "is a distinguished That can only fuel interest
collection of unaltered mill in all things about Panem.
housing in a planned ru- Reyes and the Namours
ral village associated with plan to eventually restore
North Carolina's important the property, starting with
textile industry in the early a museum and gift shop,
twentieth century," the then maybe a house or two
form says. renovated for overnight
Reyes and his family were stays. They hope to open a
looking for property where restaurant as well. q