Opened 1954 | Closed 1979 | |
Location Upper Jay, New York, New York, USA | ||
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Land of Makebelieve was an amusement park located in the hamlet of Upper Jay, New York. It was in operation from 1954 until 1979. The park was designed and built by Arto Monaco.
In contrast to many more modern theme parks, Land of Makebelieve was a more low-key, whimsical attraction where children were encouraged to use their imagination. It allowed children to wander from place to place in the park as their whims guided them, without having to follow any sort of structured program or itinerary. Attractions and points of interest in the park included a castle, a riverboat, a train, several fairy tale houses, and a stagecoach and old western town.
The park was permanently closed in 1979 after suffering extensive flooding damage from the nearby Ausable River. (Less damaging floods had occurred 11 times previously.) Some of the fairy tale houses that were undamaged were relocated to what was then a similar type park called Storytown, located in Queensbury, New York. That park is now the Six Flags owned Great Escape.
The official name of the park (on signs and literature) did spell "Makebelieve" as one word, in contrast to the more common "Make-Believe" or "Make Believe" forms.
As a result of flood waters generated by Tropical Storm Irene on August 28, 2011, the last remaining building from the former park, the castle, was destroyed.