I haven't posted in a while. We've been busy having more adventures every weekend (which I will be posting about soon), but for now here's another spot we were lucky enough to visit a couple of months back.
Fairy Tale Forest!
This is a place I read about a couple of years back. It's a defunct amusement park located on 140 Oak Ridge Road in Oak Ridge, NJ, just off of Route 23.
It was built back in the 1950s by a man and his two sons. Created by hand. Not some mass produced, corporate type attraction (yeah, I'm looking at you, Disney!). Unfortunately, attractions such as Fairy Tale Forest lost their appeal around about the same time kids started to lose their imagination. Quaint, quirky places like this gave way to the slicker, more fast paced, big business parks (again, Disney). So sad, in my opinion. Someone put their heart and soul into this place and know that it's been abandoned is gut wrenching
However when we pulled into the parking lot, we were pleasantly surprised to see people working on Fairy Tale Forest!
We had a chance to speak to the creator's great-grandson. He and his mother and some friends are restoring the place and hope to have it fully functional again by next year! I was so excited to hear the news!
The great-grandson (unfortunately I didn't get his name) was so nice to us and took the time to answer all of my questions. Unfortunately we weren't able to actually go inside the part due to insurance reasons, but I got some good shots of the outside.
If you would like to see some pictures of some of the sculptures on the inside, this website is pretty good: http://fortuna.home.pipeline.com/cafe-compendium/fairy.htm. Yes, a lot of the statues are a bit creepy, but to me that adds to the appeal. :)
I really hope that Fairy Tale Forest will, in fact, open next year and I'll be able to post about it again, only this time including pictures of the fully updated attraction!
xoxoxoxo
Miss Myo
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