Marble Falls, Arkansas: Dogpatch U.S.A. (Closed)

There are new signs, posted in May, with a notice that "trespassers will be prosecuted." The owner has his name and phone number listed. There was no answer when I called for permission to visit the decaying park. But no one bothered me while I was there. You decide what to do if you find yourself down this hollow along Hwy 7. The abandoned theme park has a surreal feel. Scooby and the gang would feel right at home here solving a mystery. The large statue of the colonel and his horse, toppled and broken on the town square, resembles some Leninist icon of stone that fell with the Soviet Union. Vegetation is forever reclaiming the place. Most of the cabins, actual homes plucked out the hills and planted in Dogpatch when it opened in the late sixties, are still weathering the elements. If you take the old entrance road leading up the hillside, you'll find a large parking lot of weeds and an empty ticket building where you could start the day at Mammy's pancake house.

The Dogpatch theme park on SR7 has been closed for about ten years. Much of it can still be seen from the road -- buildings in disrepair and overgrown with weeds with the normal "no trespassing" signs. Weathered but still readable billboard at the north end of the property viewable for southbound traffic. The upper level parking lot, campground, swimming pool, gift shops and some other buildings are still accessible via Spur 7 at the north end of the property at the billboard. Some of the land at the top appears to have been sold to a religious group (Gilliad Ministries) who have a multi-building complex. In the past it was easy to find, as "Dogpatch" was listed on highway maps as the nearby city changed its name to that. New maps no longer show "Dogpatch" as the city has renamed itself back to its original name "Marble Falls."

Dogpatch U.S.A. in northern Arkansas is alas no more. I went by the site and while you can still see a weatherbeaten billboard or two, the park itself is now overgrown with weeds. You can go off the beaten path and view it from the road, but otherwise it is blocked off.