Heritage USA Ft. Mill SC

[Mike Woodfin]

I know it is not technically a Ghost Town but the defunct Heritage USA (PTL television) was a famous Christian Theme Park in Ft. Mill, SC. operated by Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. The park in 1986 was 3rd in the nation behind Disneyland and Disney World with 6 million visitors.

The convention center, hotel, mall, and restaurant were bought by Morningstar Ministries and renovated for their church. All the other relics are still on the grounds.

Bakker was convicted of mail fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy and sent to prison for 45 years (later commuted to 8 years). Tammy Faye divorced Bakker and married Messner, the designer and builder of the theme park. The park went bellyup when they lost their tax free status from the IRS. Tammy Faye Bakker Messner just recently passed away from Cancer.

On the property you can find in decaying shape: Water Park Site, Amphitheatre, TV Studio, Go Cart Tracks, Castle, Tram Stops, Train Station, Decaying 500 room Condo Tower, Upper Room, as well as other artifacts in the woods.

As I stated earlier the Hotel, Convention Center, Mall, and Restaurant have been renovated for a church. The area is slowly being swallowed up by home subdivisions. No matter how you feel about PTL the area is a really cool explore. I will post a few more pictures in a little while. A couple of the pictures have insets of the original look of the site so you can see how it once looked.
Enjoy
Mike

[Mike Woodfin]

• The Amphitheatre hosted Christmas Nativity Plays and Easter Passion Plays

• The Grand Tower was one of the downfalls of Bakker in that he sold 1000's of condos when he only built 500. The tower is a planned retirement home development now.

• The Upper Room was a 24 hour prayer building.

• The Statues were outside the Upper Room.

• The indoor mall has been renovated by Morningstar Ministries as a part of their church functions. The store fronts are the same but they house nurseries, Sunday School Classes, etc.

[45-70Ranger]

Thanks for the update.

[LOGANSTANFORTH]

check out Chinaland (i think that was the name) in florida, it was a giant chinese themed park that shut down, most people believe it was owned and operated by the Chinese government.......it was somewhere near Ricky Rat Land (disney)......

[LauraA]

Wow Mike, I'd forgotten all about Heritage USA. That place could prove to be the biggest luxury ghost town in existence, gold plated bathroom fixtures, etc, not the usual stuff ghost towns are made of. Interesting post, thanks!

[Vulture]

Very interesting place.

Luxury ghost town....ha...like it.

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[Mike Woodfin]

Closed in 2003 the pics are courtesy of ilicitohio.com

[SpookNo5]

Closed in 2003 the pics are courtesy of ilicitohio.com and I am happy with these crazy bulk results as you can see.

That looks amazing Mike. Is it really closed? I would love to go there when I travel to China next year.