Beech Mountain, NC — When the Land of Oz was open in the 1970s, it’s likely to be the costumes and decorations that visitors remember, but there was a lot of work done behind the scenes to make it all possible.
North Carolina native Tommy Hampton says he was working at the ski resort on Beech Mountain when he was approached to run the restaurant at a new attraction soon to be known as The Land of Oz.
“I hired the people and trained them, got them ready, but I had no clue what we were getting ready to face,” Hampton recalled.
In that first year, 1970, Hampton says they were busier than he could have ever imagined. He says you could look down the mountain and see a seemingly endless line of cars winding up waiting to get inside the park.
“There was no way to keep up with the demand. I got to where I could flip hamburgers faster than anyone in the world. I’d get to where I’d just slap them like pancakes,” Hampton said.
Even with the busy workload, Hampton says the employees at Oz always made time for hijinks.
“They had these little cups around the front of the stage filled with gunpowder, for when the characters disappeared, it would make a cloud of smoke. Well, I went out there one time and put a little extra in. It almost jerked the windows out of the restaurant,” Hampton laughed.
Terry Baucum worked at Oz during its opening season in 1970 and returned with his grandson and wife in 2018.
“It’s the first time I’ve been back since then. I can see why I loved working here,” Baucum said as he looked around.
Baucum says he played the fiddle in the bluegrass band that played on the porch of Dorothy’s Country Kansas home. He too remembers the large crowds.
“It was crazy. People would be listening to us and the crowd would grow so big, they’d have to usher everyone along,” Baucum said. “I don’t think I appreciated it then as much as I do now. Seeing the house just gave me chills.”
“That was the most exciting time of my life,” Hampton said about his employment at the park.
It’s a time that likely anyone who worked there will never forget.
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Map Courtesy Brandon Goldsworthy (https://www.brandongoldsworthy.com/)
