One childhood fantasyland that's kept its magic

The Boston Herald

Beverly Beckham

You don't expect to return to a place 35 years later and find it better than you remembered. Children create castles of cardboard, make creatures of sand, watch clouds and see parades floating by. Children are naturally fanciful.

Adults glance at a cloud-laden sky and think: Rain.

Adults know that castles are constructed of hard work and stone. I was not going back to Story Land to look for my youth or to seek the magic I'd found there as a child. This little village where fairy-tale people live was ideal 35 years ago because then my imagination had brought it to life.

I knew my adult eyes would see the place differently.

But Story Land in Glen, N.H., just north of North Conway, turned out to be even better than I remembered.

I visited it just two days after returning from Disney World, not with a child but with an adult, so it should have looked small, inferior, even tacky. It should have paled next to Disney World.

But it didn't. Story Land could have been plucked from Disney's Main Street, U.S.A. It's a miniature Fantasyland, a child-size village that is clean, colorful, creative and charming.

Groomed flower beds line the tree-shaded paths that lead young visitors to the giant-size shoe in which the Old Woman lives, past Heidi's grandfather's house, past Little Bo Peep, to the home of the Three Bears, and Little Red Riding Hood.

Fences designed in the shape of lollipops, pumpkins, flowers separate attractions. There's a child-sized train, pirate's and swan boats, a raft ride, a Safari ride, theater, music and games.

But what makes Story Land unique isn't its attractions or its rides. It's its philosophy. It's a touch-and-feel place, a park where children aren't just dazzled and entertained. It's a place where they get a chance to interact with storybook characters, to participate and experience. In Story Land they can ride in Cinderella's pumpkin coach, sit on a throne and be king for a day. They can feed the Three Little Pigs and Peter Rabbit and Baa Baa Black Sheep, walk into the Three Bears' House, sit at the Three Bears' Table, stretch out in the Three Bears' bed.

"No one taller than this can enter," says a sign outside "Wee Willie Winkie's Ball Crawl." Even the smallest children are made to feel important because the buildings are modeled and scaled to size just for them.

"Rock-a-bye baby in the tree top." And there's a cradle rocking in a tree.

"London Bridge is falling down, falling down." And it does and children can feel it.

"1,2 buckle my shoe, 3,4 knock at the door, 5,6 pick up sticks, 7,8 shut the gate, 9,10 a big fat hen." All these things are real: The extra-large shoes with extra-large buckles, the door, the sticks, the gate, even the big fat hen.

"To overlook the little things in life is to miss the biggest part of life itself," is engraved into a large, German-style clock at the entrance of Story Land.

It's easy to overlook this place. It's off the beaten path. It's open only part of the year, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily from Father's Day to Labor Day, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekends from Labor Day through Columbus Day.

But to miss it would be a shame. There's little that young families can do together. There are few simple affordable pleasures.

But this is one. Children under 4 are admitted free.

The admission for everyone else is $13. Visitors can pack a lunch and picnic on the grounds, or buy a hot dog for a dollar and a soft drink for 45 cents. Even the food is priced for children.

"With each passing year, we strive to make Story Land even more appealing than it was the year before," writes the son of the park's creators, Stoney Morrell.

It is appealing to young and old. The child I was loved it and the woman I am feels the same.