There are many treasures to experience in Burke County. Many local attractions have done a lot of adapting to make sure that they are able to still provide fantastic, one of a kind experiences during the uncertainty of COVID-19. One of those attractions is the Henry River Mill Village located near Hildebran in Burke County. They combine the need for time outdoors with lessons in history that would make a fun family or “quaran-team” excursion. The Henry River Mill Village was built in 1905 as a planned, contained community centered around a cotton mill. The Village had 35 small houses for the workers and their families to live in, an independent fire department and emergency services, and a company store for the workers to buy basic necessities and even toys for their children. The mill shut down in the late 60’s due to manufacturing moving overseas, then the main mill building burned in 1977 but some workers still lived on the property until the late 90’s. The site stayed mostly abandoned until it was chosen as the site of District 12 in the first Hunger Games movie that came out in 2012. This brought a lot of attention to the site and the momentum lead to it being placed on the National Register of Historic Sites in 2019.
The village is offering self-guided tours as a way to aid with social distancing and has made admission for children (12th grade and younger) free with accompanying adult. Adult entrance into the Mill Village is $15 and 100% of the proceeds go directly to the Henry River Preservation Fund. For more information and to book your tour, please visit
www.henryrivermillvillage.com
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