Rishi Chugh

"Beech Mountain in Avery County is actually that northern United States' greatest town, with 5,606 yards over sea level. Area people talk about your mountain with various resort communities as well as Ski Beech, the well-known ski resort. In the course of the seventies Beech Mountain seemed to be also house that will the particular Land regarding Oz, your subject park that will features taken its destination amid the prosperous folklore connected with the particular Appalachian Mountains.

During your earlier portion involving that twentieth century, Beech Mountain seemed to be aspect involving a good significant logging trade. While sparsely populated, them has been dotted using compact cabins exactly where loggers were living in the course of the full week while people proved helpful. Skiing came up to any mountain beginning with your 1930s, together with young people by close Lees-McRae College or university working with skis generated inside that college's wood go shopping.

Yellow Brick Street, Land regarding Oz. Picture courtesy connected with Flickr individual _rockinfree. This Robbins brothers-Grover, Harry, and also Spencer-purchased a significant tract of land on leading connected with that mountain in 1962. This Robbinses, which likewise owned Tweetsie Railroad together with the particular Hound Ears Resort, joined with other investors so that you can build the Carolina Caribbean Company inside 1965. Carolina Caribbean prepared your ten,000-acre resort with homesites pertaining to eight,000 households, the eight-slope ski resort, a the summer months recreation place, any golf training, and also your motif park. Grover Robbins enlisted Charlotte artist plus designer Jack Pentes to produce a good concept for the pattern park in which would probably pull folks for you to that mountain during this off-season. Pentes dreamed of a new put that might enchant people today and allow these people to escape that hard realities regarding that late sixties.

With regard to inspiration Pentes drew upon classic kid's tale associated with enchantment plus escape, Your Wizard regarding Oz, obtaining noted this similarity approximately gnarled beech bushes on your asset in addition to the actual talking apple trees within the tale. With any assist connected with a couple of fellow Charlotteans, composer Loonis McGlohon and also choreographer Alice Lamar, Pentes developed the actual associated with Oz composition park. Whenever its initially time of year broken in this drop of 1970, attendance have hit the six-figure level. Through heated air balloons and also the particular magical cyclone in order to traveling monkeys and joyful tracks, this Land involving Oz allowed guests that will exist each minute regarding the actual famed journey for yourself as these people walked that fifty five,000 bricks connected with the particular park's yellow brick street. Visitors ended up joined by way of every single regarding the actual beloved heroes due to the fact that they went to Kansas, Munchkinland, the actual Wicked Witch's Citadel, plus your Emerald Metropolis.

In 1975 that Carolina Caribbean Corporation went bankrupt. Shortly afterward, vandals set in place fire to be able to this Emerald Town along with stole Judy Garland's unique gown coupled together with some other artifacts out of your park's Oz museum. Your Land involving Oz, definitely strike by way of the lack of repeat readers, practically never recovered. Because the house modified wrists and hands, your park fell target to help a absence of steady control and very poor funding, closing inside 1980.

The asset had been ordered around 1990 simply by the particular Emerald Mountain growth company, that developed homesites on 450 acres all over any old composition park. Each individual fall, Emerald Mountain retains a good Sun burnt on Oz party, where by enthusiasts involving any Land of Oz may well take any nostalgic stroll along the particular yellowish brick street in addition to view remnants regarding that concept park the fact that possess been recently meticulously preserved. Some other artifacts by the park are upon exhibit on the Appalachian Cultural Museum around Boone."