enchanted forest

In my Maryland weekend getaway, we drove past a place called Enchanted Forest in Elliot City — and I got a flash! When my aunt lived in Columbia, MD, she used to take me and my cousins there every summer. It was this park with child-size fairy-tale sculptures. Like you could pose with Jack and Jill tumbling down a hill. Or you could go to the cottages of the three bears and try, their chairs and beds (no porridge). And we have all these photos in the family albums that are very seventies of me and my cousins, with my aunt and mother at the park — my cousin Ed looking terrified, my cousin Aimee so young that she had the dexterity of a bobble head doll. I was telling my pal Alex that I remembered forcing myself to go shake hands with a bumble bee (an actor dressed up as such) when I was five, feeling absolute thrill and terror at talking to this character, this celebrity.

So it was wide-eyed wonder I pulled up next to the place on Route 40 West. People, it hasn’t aged well and doesn’t even really look open. Like the welcome sign was missing an “E” and the paint was peeling from the castle entrance…and it was like a weird, Sopranos dream sequence, an afternote in a new mall complex dominated by PetCo. Pictures to come.

One Reply to “enchanted forest”

  1. The park is sadly, closed. Lots of the figures have been moved to the nearby Elioaks farm. It is very nice, I was there last weekend.

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