Earlier today on MessyNessyChic, we pulled over on the internet highway at one of the kitschiest roadside attractions on America’s East Coast, “South of the Border“. But just a little further down, on the other side of the interstate, there’s something equally surreal to make a stop for.
While scouting for roadside oddities, I also stumbled across a photo album shared by a road tripper who had made a trip down the Interstate-95 on his way to the South of the Border theme park and discovered an abandoned roadside motel with a mid-century playground straight out of the space age.
Roadtripper Brian Reynolds recalls…
“I was caught completely by surprise because on the East side of the interstate was the most amazing playground I’d seen since childhood. My father likes to tell how I used to always ask to stop and “play on the equipment” when I was 4 to 6 years old, and I swear that that kid in me had a Christmas-morning experience when seeing this playground.”
“First of all, this playground is enormous! At least 15 feet tall at its highest and completely themed around the 1960’s space age frenzy that was all the rage at the time. Most playgrounds like this have long ago been replaced by more modern plastic, abstract designs, but this was the stuff of memories. Certainly this playground isn’t safe for use anymore but the deterioration lends its own level of texture and appeal.”
The motel is an old Family Inns of America branch, a hospitality chain which I guess you could say has “fallen out of favour” with the American road tripper in recent years. Several motels had to be forcibly shut down by health department and city officials because of problems such as mould growing in the rooms due to unrepaired leaky roofs.
Even worse, in 2011, the owner of Family Inns of America, Ken Seaton pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of simple assault in connection with several sexual incidents involving women and served 90 days in jail. The hotel magnate has since been trying to sell off his motel chain in a bid to retire.
I guess he didn’t manage to sell off this one.
These photographs taken back in 2007 are also a rather flattering image of what state the motel is actually in today…
More recent pictures found on Flickr…
(c) ringwormone and Trey Ratcliffe
This video uploaded in 2012 shows the motel in considerably worse condition but the playground appears more or less unchanged (at the 9:10 mark)…
Do you have any road trip oddities to share? I do love a good tip!
