Henry River Mill Village Closed Due to Vandalism
In a really sad piece of news the Henry River Mill Village, the home of District 12, has been closed to visitors due to ongoing vandalism. Owner Wade Shepherd, who still owns the property after unsuccessful attempts to sell it, will now close the property to the public and written consent will be needed to enter the property.
“Because of theft and destroying things, I don’t want anybody else on the village,” he said.
Rather than just sightseeing from the safe distance of the sidewalks of the property, folks have been taking everything from wood boards from the old store to window frames from homes.
Shepherd said he found six girls from Raleigh each taking a window frame from houses and putting them in their cars. He told them to put the window frames back and said they initially refused. Only after he threatened to call police did the girls put the window frames back, he said.
It doesn’t stop there, however. Shepherd said people are even crawling under the houses now to take mementos.
The old mill village houses aren’t safe, Shepherd said.
“They’re everywhere they’re not supposed to be,” Shepherd said. “They’re just pilfering through everything.”
Shepherd said he will post signs throughout the property warning people to stay away and police will be patrolling the area more.
“I hate to do it but it’s just necessary,” Shepherd said.
You can read the rest of the article over at HickoryRecord.com
so many crazy people out there.
Damn Raleigh girls :/
Just goes to show you, Katniss was right to be so anti-social. People suck.
There are always those who ruin it for those who appreciate being able to enjoy something without destroying it or walking away with part of it. It is really nice of Mr Shepherd to allow it to be viewed by written permission
The comment that the old mill houses aren’t safe, also make me wonder if perhaps Mr. Shepherd is also concerned that someone will be hurt on the property, and that he will be held liable for that. That might be another reason for his posting the signs and boosting security.
Unfortunately, many people have an entitlement mentality that if they want something, that means they have the “right” to obtain it by any means necessary. That being said, it does seem that the mainstream fandom response to this is to be angry at the people who did commit theft and “ruined things” for the fandom, which I did find heartening. Though I’m sure that if I looked for it, I’d find some people who think this decision was “unfair” and punishing innocent people for the actions of a few, that seems to be the minority opinion so far.
I hope this doesn’t happen at any of the CF filming sites.
What is wrong with these people? Why would they want to harm historical property? People should have more courtesy. I’ m sad that this led to the shut down of the village.
wow thats really sad and unfortunate :[ why do people have to be so careless tho?
Ugh… why do those fans have to steal…. I really wanted to go visit the place eventually
I have been to the Henry Mill Village because I’m a fangirl. We went this spring and the Bakery sign Pasteries was broken. I was proper enough to not take anything. Not even a pebble. That is just truely disrespectful and Shepard has the righ to close it.