Entry No. 16 — the Washington, D.C. file — filed under: folk art
Clark's Elioak Farm (Enchanted Forest relics)
When Maryland's beloved 1955 storybook amusement park Enchanted Forest closed and its parking lot became a shopping center, this working farm quietly rescued and hand-restored over 100 of its fiberglass and concrete pieces — Cinderella's pumpkin coach, the Old Woman's Shoe sawed in half for the move, the Three Bears' House, Willie the Whale, a new-built Enchanted Castle — and now walks kids through the same wide-eyed 1950s fairy tale on a real cattle farm.
The story
In 1955, long before corporate mega-resorts dominated regional entertainment, The Enchanted Forest opened on Route 40 in Ellicott City, inviting postwar suburban families into a surreal nursery-rhyme universe crafted from painted concrete and molded fiberglass. When the park shuttered and strip-mall development swallowed the asphalt around it, most assumed the oversized figures would eventually be bulldozed into oblivion. Instead, in 2004, Martha Clark stepped in. As the owner of Clark's Elioak Farm just down the road, she began the painstaking, surreal operation of hauling decades of decaying fairy tale relics off the abandoned site.
Moving massive mid-century fiberglass art down Maryland state roads required drastic measures. The famous Old Woman’s Shoe had to be sawed completely in half just to clear power lines and navigate traffic down MD-108 before being reassembled and hand-painted back on the farm. Piece by piece—from Willie the Whale to the Three Bears' House and Cinderella’s pumpkin coach—more than 100 salvaged figures and structures were transported, restored, and positioned across the farm's rolling pastures.
What makes the site remarkable isn't just pure nostalgia; it's the jarring juxtaposition of 1950s commercial folk sculpture against genuine agricultural life. You're walking past living goats and open pasture soil, only to stumble upon a freshly painted blue whale grinning out of the grass or a custom-built replica of the original fairytale castle standing in a farm field. It is a second-life sanctuary for mid-century roadside Americana, rescued from the landfill through sheer local willpower.
What it's like
You'll pull off Clarksville Pike onto a working farm, park near the produce stand, and walk straight into a bizarre hybrid of a active petting zoo and a rescued theme-park graveyard. Families wander between pasture fences, goats, and ponies while kids climb inside Cinderella’s pumpkin coach or peek into the re-stitched Old Woman’s Shoe. It draws thick local crowds on warm weekends, so get there early in the day if you want to inspect the fiberglass craft up close without navigating a maze of strollers, and grab farm-grown produce on your way out.
The move: Wander the reassembled Enchanted Forest path among goats and ponies, climb into the pumpkin coach, then grab farm-grown corn and tomatoes from the produce stand on the way out.
- 📍 Ellicott City, MD
- 💸 Free
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Outdoors
Where: 10500 Clarksville Pike (MD-108), Ellicott City, MD 21042
Hours: Added 2026-07-19 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- Terra Maria Ruins — Pair the restored 1950s fairytale art of Ellicott City's past with the quiet stone ruins of a 1906 seminary assembly hall three miles away.
- Simpsonville Mill Ruins — Follow up mid-century storybook folk art with a hike through 18th-century stone mill ruins hidden along the Middle Patuxent River.
- American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) — Head into Baltimore to trace the line from salvaged roadside roadside folk sculpture to the country's premier museum for self-taught visionary artists.
Good to know
How did the Enchanted Forest relics end up on a cattle farm?
When the original 1955 theme park closed and faced commercial redevelopment, farm owner Martha Clark began acquiring and relocating the abandoned fiberglass structures in 2004, hand-restoring over 100 pieces on her family's land.
How did they transport the giant Old Woman's Shoe?
Crews had to saw the concrete-and-fiberglass shoe entirely in half to clear overhead utility wires along MD-108, trucking the pieces separately before rejoining and repainting the structure on the farm.
Is this a theme park or a working farm?
It's a working cattle farm and petting zoo that doubles as an open-air display for the restored storybook structures, featuring live farm animals alongside the vintage roadside art.
Which original attractions were saved?
Rescued pieces include Cinderella's pumpkin coach, Willie the Whale, the Three Bears' House, the Old Woman's Shoe, and a newly built replica of the original Enchanted Castle.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site · Wikipedia · preservationmaryland.org · Reddit
last checked: 2026-07-19