How the 'Hunger Games'' Henry River Mill Village is being brought back to life

Marla Hardee Milling | Special to Asheville Citizen Times

In the fall of 2017, Calvin Reyes got his first in-person glimpse of an abandoned mill village near Hickory. He had been searching for acreage in order for family members to build homes and all live near each other. That plan abruptly took a detour when he stepped out of his vehicle and surveyed the landscape at the Henry River Mill Village.

Moviegoers will recognize this place from scenes in “The Hunger Games,” where it served as the village for District 12.

“The grass was overgrown. It looked like a war zone,” Reyes said. “The country store, which served as the bakery in 'The Hunger Games,' was stacked to the roof with junk. It was a hoarder’s paradise.”

'It needs to be saved'

He also observed the former remaining homes of mill workers sitting dilapidated from disuse, including one used by the movie company as Katniss Everdeen’s home. Broken windows, sagging rooflines and a mixture of debris and graffiti on interior walls left by vandals added to the ghost town appearance.

“I called my mom immediately and said, ‘I love this place. We have to buy it,'” Reyes said. “It needs to be saved and brought back to life.”

Reyes, along with his mom and stepfather, Elaine and Michael Namour, quickly put the former Henry River Mill Village under contract and closed on Oct. 6, 2017, just weeks before a damaging tornado ripped through the area.

As Reyes walked the historic portion of his 72-acre property in late July, he pointed out one of the massive trees that fell during the tornado. “The roof on the company store got peeled back during the tornado, but none of the houses were damaged.”

He says all of the windows were gone, so there wasn’t any buildup of pressure. “I guess it was a blessing in disguise to have that vandalism,” he said.

Plan for the area

There’s much work to do here. Reyes calls it a decade-long project, but his ultimate vision is to restore the mill houses and turn them into overnight accommodations, add a restaurant in the former country store, along with a banquet hall upstairs, offer weddings and onsite special events and also tie-in outdoor adventures such as canoeing, kayaking, hiking and a variety of other pursuits.

Plans include taking all the Henry River Mill artifacts and displaying them in a museum that the Henry River Preservation Fund will create and manage once the Katniss Everdeen house is restored.

There were originally 35 mill houses. Twenty remain, but plans include rebuilding 12 to bring the total to 32. Reyes hopes to have the first house renovated and restored in time to rent out by the summer of 2019. The original houses didn’t have any indoor plumbing, so that’s something he'll will be adding.

Preserving the culture and history of WNC

Paperwork has been submitted to Raleigh to have the site listed on the National Register of Historic Places. They’ve also talked to the DOT about the possibility of moving a winding road known for speeding that runs right through the property.

“Being on a state road, it’s hard to keep a perimeter, “said Reyes. “The DOT talked to us about how the bridge needs to be replaced. We want to donate the easement on the west side of the village to move the road. That would give us a perimeter and make it more safe.”

Reyes admits that he’s an outsider, but an outsider who genuinely appreciates what Western North Carolina has to offer. “I grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. My wife is from Granite Falls. I love the culture and the history and the nature and the landscape.” It’s those things he wants visitors to the site to experience.

They’ve received approval from many who live nearby, including some who grew up on the property. Reyes’ mother, Elaine, says one man came to meet them and asked what their intentions were. She said he had tears in his eyes when she told him they planned to restore the village instead of attacking it with a bulldozer and building something new.

History of Henry River Mill

Two families — the Rudisills and the Aderholdts — are credited for designing the mill and village and in the early 1900s. The mill, incorporated as the Henry River Manufacturing Company, produced fine cotton yarns. Workers lived in the village, which was a planned community with a general store, post office and its own currency, known as the doogaloo. The top floor of the store served as the school for village children.

The mill shut down around 1971 and the area became known as a place for illicit activities until a man named Wade Shepherd bought it in 1976. Shepherd owned two knitting mills and a finishing plant and had entertained the idea of restoring the Henry River Mill, but it burned to the ground in 1977 before he could take any action. It’s believed that a lightning strike ignited the blaze.

It’s Shepherd's hoard of junk and other accumulations that greeted Reyes when he first peered into the country store. He held an auction to clear the building in November 2017, but it still has items from the past — an old glass jug of Pinesol, a vintage sewing machine, weathered dolls, old cabinets and barrels embossed with the Henry River Mill stamp.

Reyes pulls out a framed set of the doogaloo coins embossed with the words "Henry River Mfg. Co." He received them from an Aderholdt relative who came to the auction.

There’s been an outpouring of interest and support from community members, who are thrilled that Reyes and his family want to preserve the history. Every Saturday and often on Sundays between 20 to 30 community volunteers show up to remove debris, clean out houses, stage parking and perform other tasks. One woman also brings a steady supply of cakes and pastries to feed them all.

“The people that lived in this village were very, very poor. They didn’t know it. They had a great sense of community and we still see this today with people supporting us in the community,” Reyes said. “They care a lot about this mill village.”

Exploring the right way

While Reyes wants people to come out and enjoy the place, he wants them to do it the right way. They continue to get a lot of trespassers who want to catch a glimpse of where “The Hunger Games” was filmed. He’s happy to let folks stop and take exterior pictures of the country store and Katniss Everdeen’s house, but to go past that boundary, they’ll need to take a paid tour.

“It’s mostly because of safety,” he explained. “If people want to come for free, they can see the exterior of those two landmarks, but after that, most usually take the tour.”

There are currently three tours to choose from: historic tours presented by the Henry River Preservation Fund, Hunger Games Unofficial Fan Tours and Paranormal Tours conducted by First in Fright Paranormal.

The historic one-hour tours are offered seven days a week at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. through Oct. 31. Winter hours will be announced on their website, henryrivermillvillage.com. All proceeds go into the fund for site preservation.

The Hunger Games Unofficial Fan Tours are 10 a.m.-1 p.m. on select Saturdays and Sundays. The event includes re-enactments of movie scenes, a behind-the-scenes look at the filming locations and lunch, featuring food from “The Hunger Games.”

The paranormal tours explore several sites on the property, including the country store (main floor, upstairs and basement) and Katniss Everdeen’s home. Ryan Burleson, his brother, Andy, and three other team members lead participants through pitch-dark environments using a wide array of meters, monitors and other equipment to detect any unusual occurrences.

Burleson is quick to say that if you enter as a skeptic and leave as a skeptic, it won’t break his heart. They aren’t trying to scare anyone or convince anyone that anything is haunted. They are trying to find reasonable explanations for some unexplained events on this property, including voices, footsteps and flashlights that turn on and off by themselves when asked questions.

There will be a special event from 6-11 p.m. Oct. 27 called Boos and Brews ($10 pre-sale and $15 at the door) that includes paranormal storytelling with First in Fright Paranormal, a beer graveyard, a 1980s DJ dance party, local food trucks, spooky historic flashlight trail and a costume contest ($500 grand prize).

Other special events are in the planning stages now.

“We want to get people out here on a regular basis and we want them to feel that this is a second home,” Reyes said. “Even though my family owns it, this is not our place. We protect it and secure it, but it’s everybody’s place. It’s meant to be shared.”

IF YOU GO

What: Henry River Mill Village

Where: Take Interstate 40 to Exit 119 near Hildebran.

Learn more: henryrivermillvillage.com

Learn more about Asheville's movie history: