What happened to Heritage USA?

[reverbandwhiskey]

Tongiht I was watching a documentary on Tammy Fae Baker. It made me wonder what is the current status of their amusement park/conference center?

[uptownliving]

Morningstar Ministries currently holds worship services in what was once the lobby of the Grand Hotel....feel free to go there on a Sunday and check it out.

[Norm2]

Going to church to look at the building and not listen to the sermon.....thats kinda funny.

[SmellyCat]

Where is it located? I think I heard it was somewhere south of the state line. Rock Hill or something?

[DigitalSky]

Take the Carowinds exit, go in the opposite direction of Carowinds. (Hwy 21 South), then into Regent Park on Regent Parkway... go down about 1.5 miles, and then left i think on Heritage Blvd. Cross the railroad tracks, and there you'll see a ghost town... it's quite scary - especially that old tower.

[Pantherhead]

That was once a nice peice of property. The last time I saw it, it looked pretty sad though. My brother used to work at the hotel. Made good tip money there too.

There has been several different proposals over the years to reopen it similar to what it was, but they never really materialized.

Speaking of Tammy Faye, I saw her shopping at the goodwill store(of all places) on Mckee rd. last week. She's actually(surprisingly) a really nice lady.

[appatone]

I thought a developer recently acquired the rest of the property and was going to get rid of the tower and water park and build single-family homes.

[Pantherhead]

I thought a developer recently acquired the rest of the property and was going to get rid of the tower and water park and build single-family homes.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You're probably right. I haven't heard anything about it myself though. Of course I have almost no time to read the paper, or watch the news since I'm now working close to 80 hrs a week

This is where I get most of my local info as far as what's going on businesswise.

[monsoon]

Yes it was quite nice. I remember visiting it in 1986 during its peak. They were referring to it as the Christian Disneyland.

[rockhilljames]

Check it: From it's height to it's current state:

Heritage photo album

[ezcheese]

That's a sad sad state of affairs.

[SmellyCat]

Pretty amazing pix. Hey, did the plotline in "Fletch Lives" (came out in the late 80s) parody Heritage USA? I always wondered about this. It has a Bakker-like character named Jimmy Lee Farnsworth and a religious theme park called Bibleland.

[monsoon]

The federal trial of Jim Bakker took place in Charlotte in the Federal Court house during the summer of '89. It was a media event of national proportions similar to the OJ trial with all kinds of twist and turns with celebrity sightings all over the city. Before the downfall, the Bakkers were as prominant as Hugh McColl and it was a bit of a blow to Charlotte for such a dynasty to collapse as it did. Once the trial concluded, Bakker went to jail, Tammy ran off with Mesner (who was the developer of PTL) and PTL began to fade away.

[appatone]

Although I don't have the numbers I know that PTL was much more visited than Carowinds during its height of popularity. Think of the tax revenue, of course it was all going to SC. I went on a recent trip to Nashville and while touring Opryland and seeing what a boost it must be to the Nashville tourism scene I wonder what PTL could have done to our tourism scene if it never fell. I also kind of wonder if a resort like Opryland could flourish in Charlotte and what would that resort be like. I noticed that Opryland dropped busload after busload of people off in downtown Nashville to partake in the nightlife on the Friday night I was visiting. I just think it would be awesome to see the same in Charlotte. Of Course Heritage USA folks aren't really the type to party it up in an urban setting. But think if Paramount upped its game and created a resort atmoshere around Carowinds. One or two cool themed hotels, an expanded park, and a section of shopping and dining like a mini Universal citywalk or downtown disney (just as long as its not cooler than uptown ).

[monsoon]

Actually when Carowinds opened in 1973 the original plan was to build the resort you mention by including some of the surrounding area. (this part of Charlotte was wilderness so it would have been easy)

The original plans invisioned expanding the now defunct monorail to provide connections to offsite hotels, campgrounds, and an entertainment like center with restaurants, etc. At the Carowinds Blvd exit, there is a 10 story or so hotel that origianlly opened as a Holiday Inn. The building was designed so the monorail could be expanded to provide a stop on the second story of the building. It would have traveled through the building al la Disney World.

None of this ever happened because the big recession of the mid-70s cause by Nixon's very bad policies and of course the first energy crisis cause by the Arab oil embargo that occured right when the park opened.

Years later the park was sold to Paramount who really doesn't have much interest in development for the local community. In fact they are responsible for removing much of the "Carolina distinctiveness" of the park including one of its original features of the big yellow state line marker that goes right through the park. At the time of its construction Carowinds was unique in that it was the only theme park that existed in two states. I don't know if that is the case now, but newer visitors probably do not know this.

Its all part of the homogenizing of America at the hands of the large corporations because it is cheaper and makes them money.

[toddbarwick]

For information on the current status (2007) of the former Heritage USA property, visit:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HeritageUSA

[ScottCLT]

I've posted this before on this forum, but the best photo gallery I've seen of this place is here...

http://sbno.illicitohio.com/heritage/heritage01.html