Halifax, North Carolina: Yogi Bear Graveyard (Gone)

Six of us anticipated stopping at the Yogi Bear Graveyard along the way home from a road trip to Florida. Unfortunately there was extensive construction, demolition, and after about an hour of searching through briers we were informed by a truck stop employee that the owner decided to gather up all of the Yogi's with the intention of trying to refurbish them. There is nothing here -- sadly it is not worth the stop. We did find a Yogi hand and a tie, and also a fiberglass deer we decided to bring home with us to remember the search. We were all really disappointed we will never be able to witness this unique place.

Stopped by to see the infamous Yogi Bear Graveyard, and started to give up hope, (last log was in 2004) when we discovered that IT IS STILL THERE! The new truck stop is in place, not open yet, but nearly completed. Behind the truck stop is an old machine shop (the one without walls, not the one with corrugated tin walls) and behind the shop, overgrown with weeds and behind a fence, is the graveyard. We put a geocache there (if you don't know what a geocache is, visit www.geocaching.com to find out).

The Yogi Bear Graveyard may soon be no more. I visited the graveyard on Valentine's Day, 2004, and I discovered the Lakewood Truck Stop is now shut down. I learned that there are plans to reopen it this summer, possibly as a statewide farmer's market. This happening is dependent upon money from North Carolina's Tobacco settlement flowing into the project, but if it does happen I can't see any of our elder statesmen appreciating the surreal beauty of a bunch of decaying yogi bear statues. So visitors seeking out Yogi and friends should probably go soon.

The Halifax NC Truck Stop on the west side of I-95 at exit 168 is under reconstruction or demolition, we couldn't tell which. We did find the Yogi Bear Graveyard, however. It's out behind the old truck shop behind a chain link fence. Who knows what will happen to these figures.

First the bad news. Boo Boo is gone. Now, it's only Yogi, Cindy, and their little cave. Yogi's left arm is completely broken off and lying on the ground beside him. Worse, beginning 10/15/02, the truck stop closed for "renovations" and won't be open again until spring of 2003. We had a look at the plans for the new truck stop, and basically they're sacrificing the colorful & tacky 1960's character (it was built in 1968) to make it look like every other interstate rest area in the US. Boring and quite sad. BOOOO Lakewood!!

Now the good news! The trade off in these renovations is that supposedly plans are afoot to bring back the fiberglass characters who have been languishing in neglect and disrepair all over the Lakewood property!

We followed Nate Ethridge's tip and looked all over the perimeter of the Lakewood property. We found they'd moved the dozens of Yogi Bear & friends fiberglass figurines to a place behind a chain-link fence, next to some kind of backed-up sewage area. It stunk to high heaven, and it made the falling-apart fiberglass characters look even more sad, heaped in piles, weeds growing all around. They are planning on refurbishing all the characters and putting them back up for all to enjoy! HOORAY Lakewood!