BIG CREATURES
By Jill Devine
If you saw a 35-foot Tyrannosaurus rex standing by the road, would you pull the car over for a better look? Back in 1963, Shenandoah Valley entrepreneur Joseph Geraci bet the answer would be yes – and his bet paid off.
Geraci planted five enormous fiberglass dinosaurs at the busy intersection of U.S. routes 340 and 522 in Clarke County. His goal: to lure tourists to a gift shop he owned on the property in the tiny community of White Post, just south of Winchester and about an hour west of Ashburn.
Geraci’s strategy was an instant success. Working with noted fiberglass artist James Q. Sidwell, Geraci and his wife, Viola, commissioned several more life-size dinosaurs, which were delivered in pieces on trucks and assembled across the property’s 6 acres. After stuffing the gift shop’s shelves with dinosaur-themed memorabilia, Dinosaur Land was officially launched in 1967.
Ashburn native Samantha Bourdelais remembers visiting Dinosaur Land as a child, and on a recent drive through the area, she visited again with her sons, Jackson, 3, and Walker, 1. “When I saw those dinosaurs, I had to stop,” she said.
TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE
Bourdelais and her family entered the gift shop through doors framed by the wide, toothy jaws of a prehistoric beast.
Inside, they took a cave-like tunnel into the park, where they spent the next hour wandering a forested maze of paths lined with giant dinosaur replicas and other prehistoric and fantastical creatures.
Exhibits display varying degrees of wear and tear, and experts might question some of the zoological accuracy – but there’s no denying it’s a lot of fun.
“This place is really not just Dinosaur Land – it’s more like ‘Big Creature Land,’” Bourdelais observed. She’s referring to the 60-foot shark, 70-foot octopus and giant praying mantis, king cobra, ground sloth and saber-toothed tiger sculptures that share space with a velociraptor, brachiosaurus, stegosaurus and other usual dinosaur suspects.
In fact, one of the park’s most quirky and popular structures isn’t a dinosaur at all – it’s a 20-foot tall, Cessna-gripping King Kong that stands near the exit.
Nearby, a wooly mammoth, which long ago had a thick fur coat with moving ears and trunk, is now immobile and bald after 60 years of exposure to the elements and occasional vandalism by pranksters.
“You can tell Dinosaur Land is an older park as soon as you walk in, and that’s what’s endearing,” Bourdelais said. “I can forgive that one of the octopus’ long legs is broken and that the paint on several dinosaurs has faded. Some are oddly proportioned or have strange faces. The whole experience is a little cheesy, but in the best of ways, and it’s so fun to explore.”
Over the decades, dozens of subsequent fiberglass dinosaurs were hand-crafted by Rockbridge County artist Mark Cline, who still drops by occasionally to check on his creations. The newest additions, made of more durable resin, were commercially manufactured, bringing the current number of dinosaurs and assorted fauna to more than 50 figures.
“People know a lot more about dinosaurs today than they did in 1963,” said Shelly Hamby, one of the Geracis’ now-grown grandchildren who works in the gift shop. That explains why the earliest versions of the park’s many T-rex dinosaurs look nothing like those added more recently.
FAMILY OWNED AND OPERATED
At one time, Viola and Joseph Geraci lived onsite in an apartment in the back of their gift shop. Viola died in 1981, and Joseph followed in 1987. Their four daughters, Gloria, Grace, Barbara and Joann, inherited the business. Three of the sisters have since passed away, with only Joann Leight remaining. Today, she’s 85 and still on the job, running the park with members of the family’s third generation.
A former kindergarten teacher, Leight believes children need access to attractions like Dinosaur Land that encourage imagination.
“I see so many 5-year-olds playing on cell phones today. Our dinosaurs don’t move or make sounds. Nothing here requires punching a keypad or looking at a screen,” she said. “Kids enjoy just walking around our dinosaurs, comparing how little they are next to these big creatures. There aren’t many places like this anymore.”
These kinds of mid-20th century roadside attractions are few and far between these days. Land is often snapped up by developers who envision more lucrative uses of prime properties. But the family behind Dinosaur Land says it has no plans to sell.
“No one in our family is interested in selling to developers,” said Sam Seldon, a grandson of the Geracis. “We want Dinosaur Land to stay.”
Indeed, attractions like this have a sort of retro, kitschy magnetism to them that seems to keep drawing visitors no matter how modern the rest of the world becomes.
“A lot of people who walk in with their kids tell me they used to come here when they were little,” Hamby said. “Engagements happen here, and people pose for selfies, Christmas cards and high school graduation pictures. One day a lady walked in dressed up like Wilma Flintstone. She brought a tripod and took all kinds of photos. I don’t know who she was, but it was funny.”
Samantha Bourdelais knows she will definitely be back with her children. Her baby, Walker, was too young on their last visit, but soon, he can make his own memories to go alongside those of his big brother, Jackson, who now carries a toy dinosaur from the Dinosaur Land gift shop wherever he goes.
“I hope the owners never give way to developers,” Bourdelais said. “Places like this are disappearing fast. It’s a little piece of America’s past that’s worth keeping.”
Jill Devine is a freelance writer and former magazine editor from Loudoun County who writes for a variety of Virginia publications.
IF YOU GO
- What: Dinosaur Land
- Where: 3848 Stonewall Jackson Highway, White Post, Va.
- When: Summer hours, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily. Last admission to see dinosaurs at 4:30 p.m.
- More information: (540) 869-2222 or dinosaurlandva.com