![]() Some now live up the road at a former ’50s-era motel that’s been converted into a homeless shelter its rooms are always packed. But the only customers to visit lately-besides vandals and teens looking for a place to hang out and drink-have been bums and drifters who squatted in the remaining buildings the spacious house of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the preferred residence of many. 1, known locally as Jefferson Davis Highway the fantasy park boasted more traffic than a nearby truck-weighing stop. In its heyday, Storybook Land was the sole roadside attraction on this once-rural stretch of U.S. For the passing motorist, the site is just a blurry eyesore in between new superstores and malls, such as the monumental Potomac Mills just a mile away, Northern Virginia’s biggest tourist mecca. The 10-acre property has been spared the bulldozer at least partly because of its status as wetlands, a soggy no-man’s land that scares off would-be developers. The prospect seems a hopelessly Quixotic venture, at least from where we stand, at the run-down entrance building that slurs the single word “TORY,” all that’s left of the colorful letters that once spelled out the park’s name. Stevens first visited Storybook Land as an awestruck boy four decades ago now he hopes to turn it into a permanent home for his puppet troupe. When he talks, he can’t help moving his hands and fingers as if he’s working invisible puppets at such moments, his resemblance to the late Muppets creator Jim Henson is uncanny. In fact, he is a puppeteer recently diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome. A lanky fellow, Stevens wears wrapped bandages around his long, slender fingers, which-along with his beard and scarf-lend him a Dickensian appearance. My guide, Allan Stevens, nurtures dreams of returning Storybook Land to its former glory. I have traveled 25 miles south of Washington to explore the legendary ruins on U.S. When the park closed more than a decade ago, the bucolic site-which boasted more than 100 life-size figures and two dozen storybook buildings-was left virtually intact, as if the owners meant to open it again someday. In this self-proclaimed “magic forest of make-believe,” fairy tales came to life for thousands of children, including myself at age 4. Near her smashed head, a fallen fun-house mirror screams “FUCK OFF!” in black spray-painted graffiti.įor a quarter-century, Mother Goose greeted visitors here at Woodbridge, Va.’s Storybook Land, once a popular and beloved tourist attraction. There is no sign of struggle, but it is obvious that she has been brutally murdered. Her severed limbs-as well as her faithful pet gander-are nowhere to be seen. Her arms and legs have been ripped from her body, which rots in its faded petticoat. Her head, still crowned by a flowery bonnet, has been crushed and now rests face-down on the cold, leaf-strewn ground. She lies peacefully in the bare woods of winter. Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription.
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