Shutterbug Saturday: Land of Oz 2.0
Previous Post: Land of Oz
When the Land of Oz opened, Debbie Reynolds and her daughter, Carrie Fisher, were on hand for the ribbon cutting. Sadly, the owner of the park, Grover Cleveland Robbins, Jr., passed away due to cancer in March, prior to the opening in June 1970. His brother Harry carried on in their company Carolina Caribbean Corporation. Robbins created the Tweetsie Railroad Wild West Amusement Park.
Their father, Grover Cleveland Robbins, Sr., was the Mayor of Blowing Rock, NC (several terms), served as the postmaster, started the Chamber of Commerce in 1922 and helped start the first high school there. Our Blue Ridge Parkway, here in NC, is because Robbins, Sr., was sent to Washington, D.C., by our, then, Governor, to make sure it would not be built in Tennessee.
The designer of the Theme Park was Jack Pentes, a Korean War veteran and, creator of Carolina Clowns and soft-play equipment.
Land of Oz (Official Site)
Additional Reading:
Five Interesting Things (North Carolina Field & Family)
That Abandoned Wizard of Oz Theme Park? (Popsugar)
Ribbon Cutting: The Robbins Trail (Watauga Democrat)
June 20, 2021 at 2:42 PM
Interesting! I never knew this place existed.
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June 20, 2021 at 10:47 PM
Not many do. I went as a kid with my parents…around 1972.
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June 21, 2021 at 10:27 AM
Never heard of it!
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June 22, 2021 at 12:59 AM
Heh. Not many have unless you have spent a lot of time in North Carolina, particularly in the 70s.
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June 28, 2021 at 12:17 AM
I love Debbie…she was very cute on up in her life. I liked her because she liked to preserve pop culture things.
The park was a great concept.
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June 28, 2021 at 4:55 AM
She was cute but, according to Carrie, she was a difficult Momma. Remember the flick “Postcards From The Edge?”
It was a great concept. Unfortunately, the guy that helmed it, died before it opened.
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June 28, 2021 at 8:49 AM
Yes I remember that one…those two together must have been fireworks. I saw her interviewed on the Cavett show and I thought she was really young but by then she was up there and still looked the same….plus she made no apologies for wearing a wig or whatever.
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