The Enchanted Forest

The Enchanted Forest is an abandoned amusement park located in Ellicott City, Maryland that opened in 1955. The attractions were based on story book nursery rhymes. The Enchanted Forest was the first Theme Park in Maryland, the first Theme Park on the East Coast and the second oldest Theme Park in the USA, according to this website. The park closed down in 1986 and according to Preservation Online magazine, this happened when "the strip-mall developer broke his pledge to keep the Enchanted Forest alive. " In past years it has also been featured on the top ten endangered sites list for Preservation Howard County. The park holds fond memories for many, which is why there have been so many efforts to restore and reopen it. My mom remembers going there as a young girl and was sad to see it close. Included in the preservation efforts is Clark's Elioak Farm, located nearby. According to the Baltimore Sun, Martha Clark has been restoring and transporting items from The Enchanted Forest to the farm, which began in 2004 with a large Cinderella's Pumpkin Coach. Children can now enjoy the petting zoo, the farm's main attraction, along with some of the restored elements of the the forest.

-Photo from Preservation Howard County.

Glenn Dale Hospital

Glenn Dale Hospital was a tuberculosis sanatorium in the 1930s that was later used to treat the chronically ill. It closed down in the 1980s and is located in Maryland. The grounds are extremely large with 216 acres and contain both adult and children's buildings. Today, the grounds are abandoned and run down, heavily guarded by police to prevent trespassing. People still visit the grounds, however, and when I went there was a lot of graffiti. Many interesting artifacts have been discovered such as bacteriology lab slips and a patient ID card. It makes me wonder where that person on the ID card is now and what life must have been like for her.

The hospital is now owned by the Prince George's County government as described in this Washington Post article.

A park of over 200 acres is planned at the hospital site as well according to this website.

The Henryton Center

The Henryton Center is a former tuberculosis complex that opened in the 1920s, located in Carroll County, MD. In the 1960s it was transferred into a state mental hospital and it was closed down in the 1980s. With 23 buildings, the 46-acre property is large, isolated and surrounded by dense woods. I have visited the Henryton Center twice, once at night and once in the daytime. I am always filled with feelings of wonder and curiosity when entering these still, abandoned places. I can't help but close my eyes and think about the people who were here before. Most of the buildings are deteriorating and rotted, but signs from the past still remain. There is a collage of flowers created by patients in one building, chairs in another.

Sadly, graffiti and litter have mostly overrun the property now. Many people claim that these buildings are haunted and come searching for a thrill at night. I have encountered others simply admiring the building in peace. I couldn't help but wonder if one old man wandering the grounds could have been a former patient...

A railroad line also runs right alongside the property and has one of the oldest active railroad tunnels in the world.

In more recent news, the Henryton Center appeared in the Baltimore Sun in an article which discussed how the State is searching for a buyer for the property. It has been on the market three times since 1992.

The Center also appeared in the Eldersburg.net online newspaper in 2006 when the Sykesville Fire Department responded to a call about a small fire on the abandoned premises.

-The collage photo was taken by me: Allison Nagy

-The train photo and photo of the sign are cited to their original sources by clicking on them.