So a few weeks ago I took a trip back to Illinois. While I was there I finally got to explore Shireland, an amusement park that’s been abandoned for over 20 years. I used to pass it all the time and completely forgot it was there. Until I passed on my way from the airport. So I had to go. Anyway here’s a brief history of what I was able to find out . Shireland opened for a season in 1988 was then closed the next 2 years. It then reopened in 91. For only half a season then closed again mysteriously. Now it could be for a whole lot of reasons. The owner a self made millionaire who never made it past the grade was very well known for being crazy and unbalanced any research into shire land also provides lots of source material on its proprietor, it could also be that the park was poorly planned and made little conceptual sense. The main purpose of the park was paint the shire horse as some kind of super hero. For those that don’t know the shire horse is a pull horse similar to a Clydesdale. The owner became obsessed with them when he discovered there were only 5 left in the world. He bought a bunch and started breeding them on a farm. But back to the park itself. After 20 years there isn’t much left unfortunately vandals have burned down most of the buildings most of what was left was from an attraction called dragon wood where you ride through a forest with a medieval village in it there are giant plastic dragons attack you and knights on shire horses fight them off. It would have been a lot cooler to see it before everything was burned down, but it was fun enough getting to walk around. On the way back we made a stop at Delaney’s Wild West Town which is still in operation the owner was nice enough to allow my friend jess and I to do a night shoot there. He seemed very impressed and I look forward to going back and being able to shoot some more. Jess and I also found a bunch of great places to do night shoots so I’m very much looking forward to my next trip back home. Also for additional information on what happened to shireland visit the following there is a whole bunch of great info and stories about the place that I could never fully explain.

http://shireland.tripod.com/

and heres more on Donley’s

http://www.wildwesttown.com/nav/wildwest.html