Many of us like to collect things – stamps, baseball cards, comics – but this couple in West Virginia has a collection that has us all beat.
This quirky roadside attraction, known as the Farnham Fantasy Farm, is owned by George and Pam Farnham, who have taken the idea of lawn ornaments to a colossal new level.
George moved to West Virginia from Washington D.C. in the '80s and purchased some land in Unger, where he met Pam. At that point, he was already a collector of various items, and he desired a large fiberglass dinosaur to place on his land. Pam also wanted a large sculpture in the yard, but instead of a dinosaur, she wanted the Muffler Man.
Pam got her dream first, when she found an online posting for a yellow and black Muffler Man that stood on top of a closed Midas muffler shop in California. The owner wanted to get rid of the 25-foot statue (pictured below), so Pam purchased it. But it didn't end there. Not even close.
Since the property was not constrained by zoning laws, the statue (and the many to follow), placed no restraints on the Farnhams' choice of lawn decorations. So, they didn't hold back. But what about the neighbors? As it turns out, the neighbors seem to unanimously approve of the statues.
But the Muffler man was just the beginning. They began an eBay search for more statues until they came across a "Beach Dude" in Cincinnati. That one had not even been erected when they purchased "Big John," a supermarket bag boy from a closed grocery store in Benton, Illinois.
After years of searching, they finally found another desired statue, a Uniroyal Gal, In 2008. Along with the Muffler Man, Big Joe and Beach Dude, Uniroyal Gal stands proudly in a line beside the Farnhams' gravel driveway, greeting curious visitors as they arrive.
Aside from the four originals, the farm also has a Santa Claus, large birds, a hamburger man, and many other curiosities of varying sizes. They even have a stationary roller coaster on which the characters from The Simpsons sit, including Homer, Marge, Maggie, Bart and Lisa. George has still not found a dinosaur statue.
Although these statues and decorations have been dubbed "roadside colossi" (the display was once called "The Farnham Colossi"), George thinks of them simply as lawn ornaments. Despite the modest, or not so modest, terminology with which they are associated, you will not find lawn ornamentation like this anywhere else in West Virginia.
