Thursday, January 19, 2012
Arkansas Culture and Characters Ozark Medieval Fortress closed this year
Posted by Max Brantley on Thu, Jan 19, 2012 at 2:57 PM
Remember the Ozark Medieval Fortress?
It drew huge attention, from the New York Times on down, after French investors purchased property in Boone County, between Lead Hill and Omaha, to recreate a medieval fortress using authentic construction methods, from stone masonry to forging of metal fittings. It opened in May 2010. The idea, based on a similar attraction in France, was to attract paying visitors ($18 for adults in the last season) to watch and learn about the construction, which was said to take 20 years to complete. It was named one of the state's top 10 tourist attractions.
Things apparently haven't run exactly according to plan. Though a call to the phone says the fortress will reopen for the tourist season in April, the website says it won't reopen in 2012 and no reservations are being taken. I've been unable to reach any of the French leaders of the project, but Arkansas Tourism Director Joe David Rice said he'd learned the attraction wouldn't be opening this year. Agencies that have advertised the attraction in the past are making plans not to include it in advertising brochures this year.
Rice said he had only limited information. But he said the venture had attempted to find additional investors for this year. When the effort was unsuccessful, operators made the decision not to open this year but to try to retrench. I've messaged two of the venture's leaders for more information, but I've yet to find anyone so far who can tell me more, including whether anyone remains on the grounds, which are some distance off Highway 14.
Kat Robinson took the full tour on her Tie Dye Travels blog, with lots of photos of the signifcant amount of construction already completed.
Rice said he'd visited and watched artisans and craftsmen in period garb (save for some safety garb, such as helmets, required by modern law) performing such tasks as making ropes, mixing mortar and dye and looming materials. The French operation had the benefit of being within a short train ride of the huge population of Paris, he noted.
UPDATE: I just heard by e-mail from Noemi Brunet, wife of Michel Guyot, the archaeologist behind the project. She wrote:
As Joe David told you, for financial reasons, we won't be operating in 2012. Actually, we are now looking for a person to sell the project to, or an investor.
Comments (32)
Showing 1-32 of 32
I had always thought to myself that I hoped someone's inheiritance would hold out 20 years or else there would be a big half finished thing a ma jig out in the middle of nowhere.
I couldn't believe someone old enough to have accumulated the needed money would be interested in a 20 year project.
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Pay $18 to watch guys work? I can't imagine why this attraction didn't take off.
Scrapper....I'll make you a great deal. You can come up on the mountain and watch me work and I will only charge you $10. And as a bonus, I might even let you help me.
Damn. But at the same time, I'm sort of attracted to the idea of the area becoming sort of a mysterious incomplete ruin. Like in 30 years, instead of a fortress, there's just this stone foundation and stories about what it could have been. A Roadside Architecture kind of thing. Like the kind of stuff you find here: www.agilitynut.com/roadside
At least Boone County will retain their medieval attitudes.
Where's that Arkansan of the year? Alice built a museum. Maybe she'd like to build a fortress. It's like a work of art. She could probably pull out some endowment money between the cushions of her couch.
It was missing the whole "Theme Park" vibe for it to become popular. I suggest they add some attractions such as: The Flogging Ride - where kids can go in circles grinding wheat while Medieval carnies shout profanities at them and administer the occasional whip. The Water Slough ride will be a big hit. Please make sure you take the proper route and don't end up in the sewer. The Gruel Depot - for an authentic taste of some Old World grub (with or without grubs). Plenty of opportunities for games of skill including Spot the Gypsy, Who's Got the Plague? and Poach Your Dinner Before the Lord Finds Out.
Don’t like to be unkind: But from Day One, I tried to imagine a dumber idea than this castle project. Finally thought of one: Jerry Jones deciding to move Cowboys Stadium to DeWitt.
Now Harrison will offer tourists an abandoned amusment park 10 miles south of town and the abandoned fortress foundation 20 miles north of town.
Here's some picts of Dogpatch from some years back. http://www.pointedstick.net/colter/plog/04…
I think they've cleaned it up some since then.
imjustsaying.........thank you for the pictures of Dogpatch. Brought back some childhood memories. But made me sad to see what it became.
Norma
This would now be Limestone Henge.
From the pictures it looks like they could only build it as high as they could reach. Maybe if they had a mideval scaffolding maker.
Trust Norma.
A thousand years from now, aliens in tie-dye will make annual pilgrimage to site to ponder Vernal Equinox perfectly aligned at dawn between men's and women's indestructible PVC Porta-Potties.
Mountaingirl:
$10 sounds like a bargain. Does that include all the frothy adult beverages I can consume?
I was one of the people who paid to go and I thought it was worth the money. Our guide was an incredible historian who educated us about that time period. He really knew his facts and I was with some very educated people and he could answer and explain all of their questions and correct their information. It was also a lovely day for a stroll and to hear and watch the weaver and hear about the dyeing process was enjoyable too. Seeing how they made rope and made the walls and etc was history in the making. I would have gone back to watch the progress later. I notice that all of you who have something negative to say, didn't go and experience it. It for sure could have had better presentation but it is sad that it is closing.
To be honest Flowerlover, I probably would have gone had I known it was open. I remember seeing a Demo-Gaz article a couple of years ago, and that was the last I heard of it. Never saw an ad and never saw another article or blog item about it.
flowerlover......you are right. Some of us were judging something we had never seen. I am sure there was much to be learned, and I am sorry I didn't have the experience, but thanks for sharing yours.
I do appreciate those skills. The hubby and I are three years into building an 18th century style hand stacked stone wall (no mortar) around our vineyard and we are only about half finished. It is very slow going when you aren't using machines and each stone comes out of the ground from the mountain. This may be the project that never ends!
And scrapper......beverages are provided. And if you are as sweet and smooth talking as my precious nephews are when they come up to "help", I usually end up cooking them a steak before they leave.
Took the family last summer and enjoyed it-similar experience to flowerlover's. I was looking forward to checking back in on the progress occasionally. Maybe something will work out...
They just had the heritage wrong. A good Scottish castle in the Ozarks would have had volunteer help of all the Ozarkia Scotch-Irish descendants it could handle.
"The hubby and I are three years into building an 18th century style hand stacked stone wall (no mortar) around our vineyard and we are only about half finished." Posted by mountaingirl
Now that's what I call character building, mountaingirl!
Re the Ozark Medieval Fortress- I too was intrigued, but had not yet made a trip to see how the project was progressing. As I recall, Parks & Tourism was promoting it along with scores of other interesting places in the state. If and when it reopens, I will make sure not to miss the opportunity to go just in case it is the last.
There is quite a bit of historical precedence of a project being started by one party and completed by another. The Scots in particular utilized a whole lot of what the Romans left behind at their southern border after the collapse of the Roman civilization in the 5th century.
I wonder what they're asking for it. And I wonder what the closure of the castle grounds will mean towards tourism in that area. For instance, the 1929 Hotel Seville in Harrison offered several deals for folks coming up to view the castle.
They did a wonderful job with their side attractions. It was first class operation. A friend tells me that there was a sturctrual question last spring. Evidently with massive stone work there is a special order to the placement of the stones.
Yes, Full Throttle...the Egyptians built the pyramids upside down, learning the hard way that big wide stones go on bottom
As a part-time reenactor (not this particular time period, though) one of the most important attractions to something like this is not only to watch them build the derned thing, but maybe also to help work on it and get a little experience in what it must have been like to live and work in these things Way Back When. A big problem, as I've noticed in Civil War and similar projects, is that the first thing you find out is that there is a great deal of this Mexican guy, Manuel Labor, involved, and that sort of takes the blush of the rose. Great to have tried it once, but not a lot if incentive to come back and do it again. And with $3.50 to $4 gas, traveling to the event on a frequent basis pretty much blows your hobby budget. And there will likely be farbs and other tourists/spectators there to otherwise "fling a booger on your windshield of authenticity," as we say in the Hobby...
I was the "goodwife" at the castle and it was the job that I hoped to be the last one I ever had. It was an INCREDIBLE experience! Like those earlier commentors, we heard all the time that people were not expecting the quality experience that they had when they went to "watch someone work". This was and hopefully will continue to be an experience that has never been offered in the US before. People have Williamsburg, Sturbridge Yankee Village and even Old Town Washington which are similar in concept but all are teaching American history. This was an opportunity for hands on access to WORLD HISTORY and it will always be the job I wanted to have for the rest of my life. As such, I am looking into many alternate funding sources for it and we are trying to re-organize and re-open. The castle deserves to be built!
Went with my kid on a school trip and it was awsome. I am very sad it is closed. Not only were we planning on going back, but had even tossed around the idea of voluntering.
Just like Scrapper72 - we didn't even know it was open. We heard something about it and then nothing. We love history and would have gone. We go down to Branson at least once a year. Well - maybe they should have charged $20 pp and spent $2 of it on advertising. :0(
I was lucky enough to see it last summer and it was a great experience. The artisans and guides where very interesting. We had two 80+ year olds with us and the entire staff helped with their physical limitations and made the experience wonderful for them. I hope it can reopen in the future......G-D forbid someone actually learn something while on vacation. Why on earth can people not appreciate anything that doesn't blow up or do 80mph in less than 60 sec..
My husband and I saw it in 2010 and loved it! We had hoped to come back every year or two too, as long as our health allowed it. Sorry I didn't think of the Investor Health of the French investors. With it as close to Branson as it was, I really hoped it would have taken off. We also loved Harrison (as a town) and didn't see Arkansas backwoodsiness that some above have alluded to!
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