Follow the Yellow Brick Road to the Abandoned Land of Oz
When I was a kid, I was cast as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz
for my school musical. I was a very serious ten year-old and so I took
the role very seriously. Another student had been cast as Dorothy’s pet
dog, “Toto”, and stood next to me the entire time on stage wearing a
fluffy bear costume (they couldn’t find a dog one), panting and barking
after I delivered every line. Looking back, it was the performance of a
lifetime. And so friends, I felt most compelled to share a recent
‘forgotten’ find, the 1970s defunct theme park, Land of Oz….
In the resort town of Beech Mountain,
North Carolina, lies a neglected theme park that survived for just ten
years before it closed its doors and fell into disrepair.
Entrepreneur Grover Robbins opened the park in 1970 with the investment
of veteran Hollywood actress Debbie Reynolds, who bought several props
and costumes from the 1939 Wizard of Oz film from MGM studios
to display in the small museum. Visitors could walk down the Yellow
Brick Road, “experience” the tornado which struck Dorothy’s house, and
visit with the Scarecrow, Tinman, the Lion, and the Wicked Witch of the
West.
But don’t forget the munchkins! As you
can see, they look super friendly and cute– not at all like ghost
children that have been turned to stone and sentenced to live in the
overgrown woods of an abandoned theme park….
A not at all creepy ‘munchkin house’. (c) Thomas Kerns
Dorothy’s replica house, which you can actually rent for $165 a night (Land of Oz included in the backyard), but more about that later….
In 1976, a fire destroyed the park’s
Emerald City at the end of the yellow brick road and some artifacts in
the museum, as well as one of the dresses worn by Judy Garland as
Dorothy in the movie. Despite attracting over 20,000 visitors on it’s
opening day in 1970, the park failed to bring in the crowds in later
years and finally closed in its tenth year. Left to the elements and
vandalism, props and entire houses were stolen. Some efforts were made
to restore parts of the park after a decade of abandonment, but the Land
of Oz would never be the same…
I’ve found some photographs from an old album on flickr of a family who visited in 1973. Photos by Billie Nenninger.
The Land of Oz in it’s prime, 1973:
An artificial balloon ride (a specially modified ski lift) allowed visitors to get a bird’s-eye view of the park and breathtaking mountain scenery before leaving Oz….
(c) Billie Nenninger
You’ll be glad to know that the Land of
Oz hasn’t been totally forgotten however. In the late nineties, former
employees began organising a reunion at the decaying park once a year
and bringing it back to life for a day. It eventually became an annual
two day festival called Autumn in Oz. The yellow brick road might still
be missing quite a few of its yellow bricks, but locals and non-locals
now travel to the park every year to resurrect this surviving relic from
its slumber.
Dorothy’s replica farmhouse can be rented from May 1st until January 1st.
“This
perfect private farm tucked away atop Beech Mountain has an antique
kitchen & parlor, 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, down comforters, every
appliance, great views, lots of adventure!”
Rates start at $165 per night, $400 for
the weekend and $1000 for the week and you’d be renting it from Cindy
Keller, Oz’s keeper for the past 17 years. The park also can be rented
for private parties and weddings.
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