Let me live in the house by the side of the road and be a friend to man.

March 21, 2017 12:41 PM

Henry Warren retired from tobacco farming in 1968 and wanted to amuse himself. He started with a single miniature building, but midway through decided to build something more. For the next nine years, he spent every day with a cigarette in his mouth and a Coca-Cola in his hand, building an idealized miniature country town: Shangri-La.

Shangri-La is located on a private residence in Prospect Hill, North Carolina, just off of NC Route 86. It numbers some thirty buildings in total, with nearly every building a town could need but that Prospect Hill mostly does not have. Warren’s kin still live nearby nearly forty years after his death, and the construction, made from locally-quarried stone, concrete, and mundane treasures from the flea market, is sturdy.

posted by infinitewindow (5 comments total)

This is viral marketing for the upcoming Starz adaptation of American Gods, isn't it.
posted by uncleozzy at 1:02 PM on March 21, 2017 [3 favorites]

It is not, but oddly enough I am re-reading AmGods.
posted by infinitewindow at 2:10 PM on March 21, 2017

I really enjoy it when people do a thing because they want to. I like this one a bunch, but even if I don't like the art or design of something a person making a thing just to make it is lovely.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 2:28 PM on March 21, 2017

Retirement is a hell of a drug.
posted by GuyZero at 2:47 PM on March 21, 2017 [2 favorites]

I remember stopping by this place a few years back! Yes, it is a very American Gods type place, at once delightful and a little creepy. Thank you for posting this.
posted by dogheart at 9:07 PM on March 21, 2017 [1 favorite]