The Enchanted Forest was a

theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

Ellicott City, Maryland Ellicott City is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in, and the county seat of, Howard County, Maryland, United States. Part of the Baltimore metropolitan area, its population was 65,834 at the 2010 census, making it the mo ...

, on

U.S. Route 40 U.S. Route 40 or U.S. Highway 40 (US 40), also known as the Main Street of America, is a major east–west United States Highway traveling across the United States from the Mountain States to the Mid-Atlantic States. As with most routes wh ...

(Baltimore National Pike) near the intersection with Bethany Lane. Other theme parks with the same name have since opened elsewhere.

History

The Enchanted Forest officially opened on August 15, 1955, following a preview party the afternoon before — one month after Disneyland Park's opening. Appealing mostly to families with small children, the park had a

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From t ...

theme. The park featured

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

buildings and characters, but no mechanical rides originally. Track rides were added later, including the Alice in Wonderland ride with teacup-shaped cars, a Cinderella's castle ride with mice for the cars, the "Little Toot" boat that took children to Mount Vesuvius for giant slides, and the Jungleland Safari which was driven by open

Land Rover Land Rover is a British brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR currently builds Land Rovers ...

-type vehicles. Children's birthday parties were often held in the picnic areas among the attractions; many local teenagers worked as ticket-takers at the park. Unlike many other attractions of the time, the Enchanted Forest was integrated from the day it opened. Admission cost one dollar for adults and fifty cents for children. The park expanded from to . At its peak, the Enchanted Forest welcomed 300,000 children per summer season. After its original owners, the Harrison family, sold the park for $4.5 million to JHP Development in 1988, the park closed for the first time in 1989. After turning more than half the land (primarily the parking lots) into the

Safeway Safeway is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, d ...

-anchored Enchanted Forest Shopping Center in 1992, JHP Development reopened the park for the 1994 summer season, predominantly for children's birthday parties. EFwhale1972

The park was permanently shuttered from 1995 to 2005, when active preservation began. Much of the theme park sat undisturbed yet neglected behind a chain-link fence. On June 30, 1998, the post office opened the Enchanted Forest branch onsite. In 1999, the Friends of the Enchanted Forest was formed with the goal of reopening the park and then in 2003 the Enchanted Forest Preservation Society was formed with the long-term goal of reviving the Enchanted Forest. Their work focused on preventing the artifacts from being lost forever. The owner of the land, Kimco Realty Group, agreed in 2004 to allow most of the fairy tale structures and figures to be moved to nearby

Clark's Elioak Farm Clark's Elioak Farm, located along Maryland Route 108 in Howard County, Maryland, is a historic farm covering 540 acres. All of the acreage is part of county or state farmland protection programs, barring use of the property for non-farm developme ...

for display and preservation. Moving and restoration began in 2005. Contributions were still being welcomed in 2011, although many of the exhibits had been restored and returned to service at the farm. In 2013, the

Howard County Department of Planning and Zoning The Howard County Department of Planning and Zoning (DPZ) manages planning and development in Howard County, Maryland, a Central Maryland jurisdiction equidistant between Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C. Land use in Howard County has evolve ...

approved Kimco to build a bank next to the castle site and wetlands by rerouting the stream that ran around the base. In 2015, Martha Clark announced the concrete block Castle would be relocated to Elioak, while the Cinderella Castle and the Gingerbread House would be demolished.

Appearances in popular culture

* Part of the

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his Cinema of Transgression, transgressive cult films, including ''Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), ''Pink Flamin ...

movie ''

Cry-Baby ''Cry-Baby'' is a 1990 American teen musical romantic comedy film written and directed by John Waters. It was the only film of Waters's over which studios were in a bidding war, coming off the heels of the successful ''Hairspray''. The film sta ...

'', released in April 1990 and starring

Johnny Depp John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is the recipient of multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Award ...

and

Ricki Lake Ricki Pamela Lake (born September 21, 1968) is an American television host and actress. She is known for her lead role as Tracy Turnblad in the 1988 film ''Hairspray'', for which she received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Be ...

, took place in the Enchanted Forest; the entrance to the park was used to begin the scene, but most of the interior scenes of the park were actually shot at

Hershey Park Hersheypark (known as Hershey Park until 1970) is a family theme park located in Hershey, Pennsylvania, about east of Harrisburg, and west of Philadelphia. The park was founded in 1906 by Milton S. Hershey as a leisure park for the employees of ...

, in

Hershey, PA Hershey is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Derry Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is home to The Hershey Company, which was founded by candy magnate Milton S. Hershey. The community is ...

, with the exception of the Cinderella castle scene * It appears in the horror movie '' Fear of Clowns'' * Episode 43 of the TV series ''Homicide: Life on the Street'' (season 4), titled "The Hat", was filmed at the Enchanted Forest * The 2009 novel ''Closed for the Season'' by

Mary Downing Hahn Mary Downing Hahn (born December 9, 1937) is an American writer of young adult novels and a former school librarian. She is known for books such as ''Stepping On The Cracks'' and ''Wait Till Helen Comes''. She published her first book in 1979 and ...

was inspired by Hahn's trips to the Enchanted Forest; photos of the park appear on the book's cover

References

{{reflist

External links

Enchanted Forest Preservation Society

Preservation Howard County

Enchanted Forest Tour DVD

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20100507065554/http://www.websitesamerica.com/websitesamerica/Nostalgia/EF-Pages/EF-History.htm Nan Sherman's Websites America, ''THE'' Enchanted Forest History
Hours of Darkness Photography site – Enchanted Forest gallery
1955 establishments in Maryland 1995 disestablishments in Maryland Amusement parks in Maryland Defunct amusement parks in the United States Buildings and structures in Ellicott City, Maryland Amusement parks opened in 1955 Amusement parks closed in 1995

History

Appearances in popular culture

See also

References

External links