rain storm
Foto Friday: Land of Oz 3.0
More shots from the Land of Oz in the 70s. ~Vic
Previous posts are here and here. Images are from Emerald Mountain Realty.
Click for a larger view.
The dress was stolen in the 1980s.
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Click for a larger view.
I rode it, once, with my parents in a blinding rain storm.
Click for a larger view.
Click for a larger view.
Click for a larger view.
Click for a larger view.
Additional Reading:
Land of Oz (Romantic Asheville)
Land of Oz (My Home/UNC-TV)
Land of Oz Theme Park (Wikipedia)
Snapshots Sunday: Land of Oz
Image is from the early 1970s
09-08-2017
In September of 2017, I paid a visit to a place I had not seen since I was about six years old…the Land of Oz. I remember bits and pieces of the trip. My parents took me in 1972 and two of my strongest memories are of riding on the balloon ride (a converted ski-lift) in a blinding mountain rainstorm and the wet ride in a bus, with no windows, down the mountain, leaving. For years, I wondered what had become of that park.
Originally opening on June 15, 1970, it was a grand place to visit and managed to stay open for a decade, even after a fire in 1975, before falling into disrepair and abandonment. Many things were stolen, vandalized or left to nature.
Appalachian State University had a cultural museum, at one time, that showcased saved pieces from the park including the yellow bricks, some munchkin houses, costumes, parts of the witch’s castle and other assorted props. All artifacts were eventually returned to the park.
In 1991, the park was included in a celebration for Independence Day for Beech Mountain. Watauga High School students dressed in costume. Emerald Mountain, Inc., purchased the property in 1994 and a slow restoration began. An “Autumn at Oz” was started as a reunion for former employees and became a yearly event. By 2010, the park drew 8,000 people.
By the 80th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz movie, 12,000 guests had come through in June of 2019. I have tons of pictures of this place, old and new and, I will be posting them over time. ~Vic
Photo Credit: Emerald Mountain Realty
Land of Oz (Official Website)
Shutterbug Saturday: Frog Strangler 2.0
We continue to have stormy, rainy weather and the temperature has dropped, considerably. We traded floods for tornadoes, yesterday. I learned, today, that two small farms south of town were damaged. I have a healthy respect for Mother Nature. ~Vic
See Part I
This helped flood my neighbor's backyard.
04-13-2019
The town closed it for a couple of days.
I saw a juvenile garter snake making its way back across the walk when I was out on the third day.
Shutterbug Saturday: Frog Strangler
Or, Toad Strangler or, Gully Washer… My dad was fond of the frog saying and my maternal grandfather always used the latter. All three are good descriptions of the storm that just swept through here, today. I haven’t seen this much water since Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Have mercy… ~Vic
The backdoor neighbor had his own mini-river.
Water from the next door neighbor’s poor drainage…
The Eno hasn’t crested, yet and, the water is at his backdoor right now.
One sewer access is over-flowing.
See my previous post on this.
Picture #2
More to come…
Cosmic-Observation 