Where the enchantment never ends
The Enchanted Forest
The Enchanted Forest opened in Ellicott City in 1955 as Maryland's first theme park. When it closed, we brought its storybook figures home to the farm — and we've been restoring them ever since.
The fairy-tale story
How the attractions came to the farm
It began in 2004 with Cinderella's pumpkin coach. Kimco Realty, which owned the old Enchanted Forest Shopping Center, offered us the remaining figures if we would move them. Over the twenty years since, with the help of artists, neighbours and former park families, we have relocated and rebuilt dozens of them — the castle, the Old Woman's Shoe (cut in half to fit under the power lines), the Three Bears' house, Willie the Whale, Little Toot and more.
Twenty years of rescue
The story, year by year
A picture-book history of how the Enchanted Forest was saved, one figure at a time.
The Enchanted Forest opens
The Harrison family opens the Enchanted Forest in Ellicott City — Maryland’s first theme park, built around nursery-rhyme scenes. It delights families for around thirty years before closing in the early 1990s.
Cinderella’s Pumpkin Coach
The farm acquires the large Cinderella Pumpkin Coach. It’s such a hit that Clark’s begins to think about saving the rest.
Mother Goose and the mice
Kimco Realty donates the remaining figures on the condition that the farm removes them. Mother Goose and her gosling, the Black Duck and the six mice that pulled the coach are moved and restored.
The Old Woman’s Shoe
The Old Woman’s Shoe is cut in half to pass under the power lines, then rebuilt on the farm, along with the Three Bears’ House. Little Toot arrives from the Hartman family.
Humpty Dumpty, Willie the Whale and a new castle
Artist Mark Cline helps restore Humpty Dumpty and Willie the Whale. A neighbour builds Humpty’s wall. The farm builds a new white Enchanted Castle entrance.
Twenty-two new characters
The farm creates more than twenty-two new figures — Rapunzel, Goldilocks, Prince Charming, Cinderella — to complete the restored scenes.
The Pine Tree Forest maze
A one-and-a-quarter-acre pine forest becomes the Enchanted Pine Tree Forest, with maze characters and an activity book for children.
Mount Vesuvius and the seven dwarfs
Thirty-five feet of the fifty-foot Mount Vesuvius slide is moved to a new mountain structure, with Robinson Crusoe below. The seven dwarfs join the gem mine.
The white Entrance Castle returns
Kimco offers the original white Entrance Castle. It’s rebuilt at the pine forest entrance, and Mark Cline completes a round of renovations.
A 60th birthday party
The Enchanted Forest’s 60th is marked with 39 local artists creating 52 paintings, and a ribbon-cutting with the county executive and a state senator.
Seventy years on
The 70th anniversary is celebrated with a ribbon-cutting on the freshly rebuilt Little Toot boat, a four-panel history display and an exhibit of forty paintings by local artists.
More of the story
See the restoration, meet the people behind it
Opened in 2020
The Fairy Forest
A short wooded trail of tiny doors, toadstools and fairy houses — some built by us, many built by visiting children at our Fairy House workshops.
See it for yourself
The Enchanted Forest and Fairy Forest are both included with farm admission.
Plan your visit