The Enchanted Forest Saga

For those of you not from the area or just out of the loop, let me bring you up to speed on my beloved Enchanted Forest. The small amusement park opened in the summer of 1955, just shy of a month after the opening of Disneyland. Even though the Enchanted Forest was built on a mere fraction of Disneyland's budget and it covered only 30 acres as opposed to Disney's 160, it was the coolest place in the world to any child who stepped foot inside the park. It had a castle, it had rides, it even had Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. To a young child, the only thing missing was Mickey Mouse himself! And better than Disneyland, Hersheypark, or even Walt Disney World...The Enchanted Forest was located in the same county I grew up in, not more than 15 minutes from my house!

The Enchanted Forest was low-tech but beautifully maintained. There were displays of all the popular fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters. There were rides like the Alice in Wonderland ride where a train of tea cups took you inside a cave to follow the story of Alice on foot. There was a Jungle Land ride, and a boat ride through Ali Baba's Treasure Cave. In the back of the park was a giant mountain with a sliding board that made it's way all over the side of the mountain. The place was cool and you can see plenty of pictures of how it looked in it's hay-day at a website called The Imaginary World.

The park closed in the late 1980's and the land was sold to a development company. The company quickly leveled half the park and it's parking lot and built The Enchanted Forest Shopping Center. Now, on the same land where you could once meet the Three Little Pigs or eat lunch at the Robin Hood Cafe you can get your clothes dry cleaned, rent a video or stock up on pet supplies. The park's iconic castle entrance still stands at one end of the shopping center along with Old King Cole waving shoppers in off Route 40, but what was left of the amusement park sat behind a fence falling into disrepair for many years.

In steps Clark's Elioak Farm, a small petting zoo just miles away from the original Enchanted Forest site. A few years ago the farm started acquiring some of the pieces from the Enchanted Forest. First they got Cinderella's Pumpkin Coach which was easy to move as it has wheels. They restored it, gave it a fresh coat of paint and put it out on their land for the kids to play in. The move attracted quite a bit of press for such a small operation. Slowly, the folks at Clark's started moving more pieces from the old park to their new operation. The company that now owns The Enchanted Forest land gave Clark's permission to remove whatever they wanted except for the king and castle out by the main road. Next thing you know, enormous structures like The Three Bears House and The Old Lady in the Shoe's Shoe were being dug up from their original spots and restored to beautiful splendor at Clark's Elioak Farm.

Every year there is something new at Clark's and this year they've gone all out and have almost completed their collection of Fairy Tale displays from The Enchanted Forest. Except for a few major structures and the rides, Clark's has managed to capture the spirit and wonder of the original park that opened over 50 years ago.


Here's Hickory Dickory Dock, an original piece from 1955 that's been refurbished, repainted and is making it's debut at Clark's this summer. This...and many other pieces...are all part of a new attraction at the farm called The Enchanted Forest Maze. The maze ads quite a bit more land for visitors to explore. The maze is essentially a forest of over 800 Evergreen trees with storybook friends hidden along the way.

What's really cool about The Enchanted Forest Maze is that it literally puts you in the middle of a forest. At times the greens are thick, and you have to push branches out of your way to make it through portions of the trail. At other times, you feel completely removed from the outside world - lost in a maze of trees. It's a very cool experience. There is a foot worn dirt trail that you can follow or you can break off and go in any direction you like. There is also a maze guide and activity book that you can purchase to enhance your experience.

This large piece is the Rock-A-Bye Baby tree and the house where Sleeping Beauty hid until her 16th birthday. They had moved this giant structure to the park last year, and it was sitting off to the side awaiting attention. It now stands in the middle of the maze with a fresh coat of paint waiting for kids to play inside it. They really did a beautiful job fixing it up. You can see the cradle with the baby in it hanging from the branch.

The Sombrero was always an odd fixture at The Enchanted Forest. It doesn't seem to pertain to any particular story or nursery rhyme but it was always there sitting in a back corner of the park near the very popular Willie the Whale. Last year the Sombrero was standing near the donkey in the petting zoo area, this year is been spruced up and placed inside the maze. They took the liberty of adding to the fence around the base of the sombrero and it's now home to a pretend donkey. Nice touch, the kids got a kick out of seeing him in there.

One of the structures that couldn't be moved from The Enchanted Forest was the Witch's Candy House from the story of Hansel and Gretel. At the old park, the Hansel and Gretel house served as the park's Birthday Party room. It was a full sized building where kids could celebrate the cake and presents portion of their birthday party. (I never knew anyone who had a party at the Enchanted Forest and quite frankly I'm still a little bitter about it!) Anywho, as it was one of the only pieces that Clark's couldn't move to their farm, so the local artists who volunteer their time built a new one from scratch. It has some of the same elements as the original, but it's much smaller and doesn't house birthday parties. You can look inside and see the witch trapped in a candy jail cell. It's very well done. Visitors to the original park will remember the little gingerbread man to the left of the house. There were at least 100 of these gingerbread men, brown and pink, that lined the property of the original forest along Rt. 40. and into the parking lot. Several of them can be found, completely restored, all around Clark's Elioak Farm.

Along with the 15 major sites along the trail there are four hidden characters that are listed only in the Maze Guide book. These little critters are hidden deep inside the maze and you really need to look hard for each of them. My kids had so much fun hunting for them and got so excited when they found one. This one pictured above, Gert, was tucked away in a tiny far off little spot. It was actually quite challenging to find her. I thought this was a really cool new addition to the Enchanted Forest experience and one of the new aspects that creates new memories for a new generation of kids.

Moving outside the maze, there are still plenty of other Enchanted Forest goodies to visit. One of them is The Merry Miller's House. It's a small house with a paddle wheel on the back that sat along the small creek running through the Enchanted Forest. Clark's built a small body of water to display some of the water based items from EF and The Merry Miller's House is among them. Many of the original Enchanted Forest house had scenes inside them which featured simple animation or a recording of some kind. (Several places featured the music from a Disney film of the same name!) Clark's not only restored The Merry Miller's House, but they restored the Miller himself who dances around in a circle inside his house singing a song. The recording of the Miller's song is a recording from the original park that was taken from a video tape that a park employee recorded in 1987. This video tape has been used to reference the way things looked when the park was in operation and a copy of the tape is available on DVD in Clark's gift shop.

If you're in the area, pack up the kids and head on out to Clark's Elioak Farm. It will bring back a flood of memories and create new memories for your kids. If you don't have kids, you should still go to the park....check out all the Enchanted Forest history that's on display in the gift shop and visit all the buildings from your childhood memories. Clark's is really doing a great job of keeping this Howard County landmark alive and well.

more...
Clark's Elioak Farm
The Wonderful Enchanted Forest
Enchanted Forest Preservation Society