Holy Land and Heritage.

“Like most post-industrial New England towns, Waterbury, Connecticut has clearly seen better days. Likewise with the sprawling, 17-acre Christian-themed theme park that put Waterbury on the map. The gate stands ajar, the paths are overgrown, drug paraphernalia and junk heaps stand in ironic contrast with plaques exhorting liberation from worldly temptations, and what little maintenance gets done is performed by a mysterious order of nuns. Welcome to Holy Land, U.S.A., an apocalyptic nightmare vision of American culture worthy of John of Patmos.”

-Will Wilson's article “This Hollow Ground” (photo from same site)

I'm a sucker for deteriorating Americana, so I'll have to make a point of visiting this place the next time I pass through Connecticut. (More pictures here.)

At least Holy Land U.S.A. seems to have been devotional in its intent. Pardon me for indulging in childhood reminiscence for two days in a row, but I remember going to Heritage USA as a child. It was a waterpark and a resort center, and also a big part of televangelist Jim Bakker's giant money-making fraud that eventually landed him in jail. All of this happened before I was six years old, so I mainly remember the waterslides, the wave pool, and the pastel storefronts of the shopping center in the half-finished hotel. I've heard that the waterpark has been pretty much removed, though I haven't seen it for myself. It was abandoned for years and years. Maybe I should drive out to see what it's like out there, next time I'm home. (More pictures.)

These days, Jim Bakker is back on television. I don't know how he got that to fly.

It strikes me the whole Jim Bakker saga is a farcical, condensed version of the Reformation (or at least the classic Protestant perspective on it), with The Charlotte Observer in the role of Luther, and timeshares in a gaudy hotel rather than indulgences. And, if I may overstretch the comparison for the sake of a joke, this would put Jim Bakker's son Jay and his Revolution Church in the role of Vatican II.