Sunday, August 9, 2009

Looking at Pictures of Mother Goose Land, Lolo MT


My parents grew up in Montana, and when I was a kid every summer we would drive back (from the Seattle area) to visit the grandparents. For my sister and me, the highlight of the segment of the trip that was spent visiting Mom's mother in Missoula was the day we would drive out to Lolo to visit Cousin Neva. This was the highlight partly because Neva lived on a farm, but mostly because we would get to go to Mother Goose Land. This was a roadside attraction where you would follow a winding path through the woods and see displays based on nursery rhymes. As best I remember, at a couple of points in the route there would be a clearing with maybe a swingset, a pop machine, a picnic table and a couple of animals.



I see no trace of a kettle.



The displays varied as far as how much effort seemed to have gone into them; sometimes it was just an old doll.





I remember the suckers-on-clothespins tree--I think it was right next to the gift shop at the beginning/end of the circuit. Up to now, the pictures are from postcards obtained through the miracle of eBay; from here on they are family photos from I believe 1966 and 1967.



My sister approaches an unidentified display.





I don't remember a nursery rhyme about a hobo riding a rocket...



As the years went by the place got more and more run down. I think it went out of business in the early 70s or so.





This is me, reunited with my separated-at-birth twin.





Pretty sure this is Old King Cole.



Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater.

Thinking about Mother Goose Land has reminded me of the roadside attraction we would pass every year but NEVER got to stop at...the Deer Farm & Snake Pit at State Line, Idaho, which had signs along I-90 seemingly for hundreds of miles in both directions...