The Retro Blog

In the early 1950s John Baptist Greco decided theme parks are fun but don’t have enough Jesus. He built Holy Land USA in Waterbury, Connecticut to correct this. He said he was directed by God to build the park, which landed him a lot of volunteer labor to make his dream happen. Even in its heyday it looked like a lousy substitute for Disney Land. The park featured a Hollywood-esque sign of the park’s name, Biblical dioramas, a giant fiberglass bible, and the big electric cross seen above. The park shut down in the mid-80s, leaving the place to rot and turn into a post-apocalyptic wasteland looking thing. This site has lots of photos of the park as it was in the 60s as well as the mess it’s become today.