Prehistoric Road Trip

These slides were among a lot I picked up last year. They bring to mind the road trips of yesteryear when those odd roadside attractions could stop you in your tracks on your way to your destination -- and you didn't mind.

I'm not sure where this is, but it reminds me of Dinosaur Gardens in Michigan.

The slides also remind me a previous post on slides I found of Dinosaur Park in Minnesota.

***UPDATE*** Reader BJB identified the park as Dinosaur World in Beaver, Arkansas. I've added pictures of the current state of the statues where available. More info on Dinosaur World at the end.

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The last slide is from Castle Rock in St. Ignace, Michigan. I'm not sure if it's from the same trip, but if it is, it lends credence to the Dinosaur Gardens theory. ***UPDATE*** New information made that theory go extinct. See what I did there? No?

This slide shows Castle Rock with Paul Bunyan reclining below, accompanied by Babe, his Blue Ox.

Dinosaur World was opened in 1967 by Ola Farwell. He hired sculptor Emmet Sullivan to create the figures.  From Abandoned Arkansas, Emmet Sullivan also designed the dinosaur statues for Wall Drug in South Dakota, and the Christ of the Ozarks statue in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. 

The park was used in the opening scenes of the 1969 movie "It's Alive" (not to be confused with the demonic baby movie of the same name from 1974).

Ola sold the park to Ken Childs in the late 1970's who renamed it "John Agar's Land of Kong" which is an odd name, but apparently Childs was a friend of actor John Agar who appeared in the 1976 version of King Kong. Childs added a 40-foot tall Kong figure to the park.

The park was closed in 2005, but the statues still stand.