“once a great success, now a dilapidated piece of history”
Dogpatch has reopened for tours! Dogpatch USA is an abandoned theme park located on State Highway 7 between the cities of Harrison and Jasper in Arkansas, an area known today as Marble Falls. It was opened in 1968, and was based on the comic strip Li'l Abner, created by cartoonist Al Capp and set in a fictional village called Dogpatch. Dogpatch USA was a commercial success in its early years. Investors tried to parlay that success into a sister park, "Marble Falls", planned with a ski resort and convention center. The venture failed and led to the park's closure in 1993. Since that time much of the property of the twin parks has been neglected and frequently vandalized, and portions of the acreage are either entangled in legal issues, in a state of redevelopment, or for sale once again. In 2011 an order was signed that awarded the troubled property to Stewart Nance and Pruett Nance, the rider of an all-terrain vehicle who was injured on the property in a fairly horrific accident that almost resulted in decapitation. Nance had previously won the judgment against park owners after the 2004 accident, though when the judgement went unpaid, Circuit Judge Shawn Womack ruled that the property be turned over to Nance in order to settle the $650,000 judgment. The property now sits abandoned, its rides rusting away in rural Arkansas, seen only by the occasional adventurous explorer.
the information is not up to date, it has been bought and is being redone, they are actually having an open house type thing in December 2014 and are gonna have a couple cabins redone and have the fireplaces in them going and serve snacks and drinks, altho you do have to make reservations to attend...i live nearby and a friend of mine got permission from the owner to visit it recently before they started working on it,,,she said it was really cool but in bad shape, would love to see it the way it once was...a great family theme park
I went in the 80s and again in 1991. It was wonderful, but dead. Not like it was in the 80s. We thought something odd was going on. Not alot of tourists there. So sad :(
Visited in '88 I believe, was still in good shape and lots of fun..a real shame, it was great park.
My parents took my siblings and I in the 70's. From what I remember, it was a lot of fun!!!!
Our trip to Dogpatch would have been between 1973 and 1975. We had gone to Silver Dollar City many times, I have no idea how we came across Dogpatch. I was a teenager and Lil Abner and crew were before my time so I had no connection to the story or characters. As a result I remember very little of the park, only that it was a very busy day. From what I am reading this would still have been during the heyday of the place. Other than the fact that it was a beautiful, hot day and that there was a hillbilly theme I only remember some of the odd little mountain cabins and scenarios of hill life and that from the parking lot you rode a funicular (sp?) down a very steep hillside down to the park. There was a stunning young man on the same car we were in as we were going back up to the parking lot to leave. He was still in costume as one of the townfolk, wearing a pair of high water overalls with one strap undone, his thick straw blond hair mussed (and with some hayseed poking from it in the memory of my minds eye), broad tan shoulders and a wide expanse of muscular chest exposed....while the park left no huge impression I certainly travel back in my mind to remember that young performer.
Nothing new there
Run down & terrible roads to get there
Gated with lots of no trespassing signs
I love reading the comments on these old places from people who actually got to see them when they were functioning! So jealous.... One of the biggest reasons I love reading these stories is to imagine and remember that we weren't always in hard times. Things seem like they were simpler once...
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Dogpatch
Hours
- Sun: 11:00 am - 11:00 pm
- Mon: 11:00 am - 10:00 pm
- Tue, Wed: 7:00 am - 9:00 pm
- Thu, Fri: 11:00 am - 9:00 pm
- Sat: 11:00 am - 12:00 am
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Parking
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Pets Allowed
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Restrooms
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Wifi
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Wheelchair Accessible
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Credit Cards Accepted
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