Beech Mountain’s Yellow Brick Road too seldom traveled

On this day in 1970: The Land of Oz, a theme park based on “The Wizard of Oz,” opens atop Beech Mountain.

The park, imaginatively conceived by Charlotte artist Jack Pentes, proves too low-tech, too small and too remote — and the weather is often dreary. Attendance is 250,000 the first year but only 60,000 in 1980, when the park closes.

A residential development will eventually supplant the abandoned Oz. Artifacts such as the Yellow Brick Road and mechanical pig wind up in Boone’s Appalachian Cultural Museum  — until the museum, too, closes in  2006.

Pictured: Pinback buttons from Land of Oz.

 

4 thoughts on “Beech Mountain’s Yellow Brick Road too seldom traveled”

  1. The park has opened once a year for the past 18 years in October, so while seldom used, it is still enjoyed by over 7000 per year on that one weekend! There are plenty of artifacts in a museum on Beech Mountain in the Land of Oz, which participants can view each year as well.

  2. I visited The Land of Oz on Beech Mt. in 1976, and thought it the most creative thing I’d ever seen! Was so sad when I heard it had to close. What a shame.

  3. We took our children to the Land of Oz on Beech Mt. and took our grandchildren there a few years ago. We want to take them again. Loved it, a shame that it is not more popular.

  4. Do you know who owns the rights to the pictures you used? Are they copyrighted or perhaps creative commons? I am working on a book for The Land of Oz and wondered if I could use them in the book? Please email me at zackunderwood@yahoo.com.

    Thanks for your help and I enjoyed your article.

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