welcome to shangri-la


amen to thatI love roadside attractions built by roadside people. Usually it is an obsession, fueled by many years of patient work, to built these temples to quirkiness. Shangri-La Stone Village, in Prospect Hill, NC, is one such place. The retired tobacco farmer Henry L. Warren began his quest in 1968, using stone blasted from his property, to build leprechaun-size buildings to fill his earthly paradise. By the time he died in 1977, Shangri-La (a fictionalized place from the 1933 novel Lost Horizon) had 27 structures. He died while working on the Shangri-La hospital.  [see thumbnails for captions]

 


About ben

Ben Batchelder has traveled some of the world's most remote roads. Nothing in his background, from a degree in Visual & Environmental Studies at Harvard to an MBA from Wharton, adequately prepared him for the experiences. Yet he persists, for through such journeys life unfolds. Having published four books that map the inner and exterior geographies of meaningful travel, he is a mountain man in Minas Gerais, Brazil who comes down to the sea at Miami Beach, Florida. His second travel yarn, To Belém & Back, received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. For more, visit www.benbatchelder.com.

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