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All the United States Kentucky Cave City Funtown Mountain
Funtown Mountain is permanently closed.

This entry remains in the Atlas as a record of its history, but it is no longer accessible to visitors.

Funtown Mountain

An abandoned theme park with a strange and tumultuous past.

Cave City, Kentucky

Added By
Lizzie Welch
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Chairs from Guntown’s original chairlift lay rusty below it.   lizziewelch / Atlas Obscura User
Chairs from Guntown’s original chairlift lay rusty below it.   lizziewelch / Atlas Obscura User
Will Russell changed “Guntown” to “Funtown” after purchasing the site.   lizziewelch / Atlas Obscura User
The Haunted Hotel.   lizziewelch / Atlas Obscura User
Funtown Haunted Hotel   Mary Traipsypants / Atlas Obscura User
It is *literally* across the street from Dinosaur World   Mary Traipsypants / Atlas Obscura User
  Collector of Experiences / Atlas Obscura User
  Collector of Experiences / Atlas Obscura User
Busted Chair Life   STG / Atlas Obscura User
  Collector of Experiences / Atlas Obscura User
  Collector of Experiences / Atlas Obscura User
Guntown, then Funtown, and apparently soon to be Guntown again   STG / Atlas Obscura User
Funtown Mountain’s defunct chairlift.   lizziewelch / Atlas Obscura User
  Collector of Experiences / Atlas Obscura User
Funtown Souvenir Shack.   lizziewelch / Atlas Obscura User
  Karnivillian / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Across the street from the Dinosaur World near Mammoth Cave is a theme park even more unusual. Nestled there on the hill is what's left of the deserted amusement park known as Funtown Mountain.

Originally called Guntown Mountain, the park opened in 1969 as one of the many roadside attractions capitalizing on the crowds of tourists visiting nearby Mammoth Cave. The Wild West-themed park continued to operate for decades before closing its doors in 2013 after a decline in popularity.

Two years later, Will Russell was on a walk in Cave City when he saw that Guntown was for sale. He had a vision for restoring and reopening the property as "Funtown," without the cowboy gun shows for which it was originally named. To raise the necessary final funds, he took to the road with a promotional traveling circus. The plan was simple and old-fashioned, much like Russell's dreams for Funtown Mountain. There would be a truck and an Airstream trailer filled with the performers of the "Carnival of Fun Roadshow," a band, and a menagerie of freakish animals and other strange memorabilia would go on a 20-state promotional tour. What could go wrong?

Plenty. Ticket sales were dismal, two of the circus performers broke up soon after getting on the road, the band bailed on one of the tour dates, prompting the tour manager to call in a favor from his old friend, the “Dancing Outlaw,” Jesco White. The wheels literally fell off the truck. Russell lost thousands on the disastrous tour. Still, despite the odds, Funtown Mountain reopened albeit in a limited capacity in 2015. Its “Grand Awesoming” was a modest but fun carnival event, held at the base of the defunct chairlift, which had been deemed unsafe by inspectors. However, the doomed park didn't even last a year; riddled with controversy, it closed its doors for good that September.

If you visit Funtown Mountain today, you can’t yet see what its next incarnation will be. But the "F" slapped onto "Guntown" and a few original structures still standing at the base of the decommissioned chairlift nod to its tumultuous past. A small information kiosk, the Haunted Hotel, and the Funtown Souvenir Shack presumably preview what you would see atop the mountain if there was still a way of getting up to it. The buildings are boarded-up and visibly weathered, paint peeling and adorned with tattered American flags. The site is a shadow of its former self, and if you look close, it still carries evidence of its notorious demise.

Update June 2018: Guntown is open! Admission is $15/person. Staff drive you to the top of the hill where there are can can, stunt show, and gunfight  shows. You can still see the decommissioned chair lift and a  pile of the rusting chair lift cars. 

 

Related Tags

Abandoned Amusement Parks Amusement Parks Abandoned Cowboys

Know Before You Go

As of May 2022: The park is now open on Saturdays from 9 am to 6 pm and on Sundays from 12 pm to 6 pm. Take exit 53 off Interstate 65. Huckleberry Knob Road is directly across from the entrance to Dinosaur World on the south side and will take you past the Onyx Cave Rock Shop to what is left of the amusement park at the base of the decommissioned chairlift.

Community Contributors

Added By

lizziewelch

Edited By

STG, Molly McBride Jacobson, rugby007, unicornXmafia...

  • STG
  • Molly McBride Jacobson
  • rugby007
  • unicornXmafia
  • absolutesquash
  • Collector of Experiences
  • Mary Traipsypants
  • Karnivillian

Published

April 14, 2017

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Sources
  • http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2016/04/20/funtown-mountain-sold-auction/83285164/
  • http://www.wdrb.com/story/30064421/owner-of-funtown-mountain-arrested-for-allegedly-setting-fire-in-his-own-home
  • http://www.glasgowdailytimes.com/news/funtown-mountain-owner-tells-his-side-of-the-story/article_e05e55c2-2c40-11e5-beb6-afa4ebbaa506.html
  • First hand accounts from people involved with the project
  • https://insiderlouisville.com/lifestyle_culture/lebowski-fest-returns-after-rocky-year-for-founder-will-russell/
  • I took out the Louisville references as L-ville is a good 100 miles from this site.
  • https://www.google.com/maps/place/Froggett%E2%80%99s+Guntown+Mountain/@37.1364599,-85.9800332,887m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x8866192e5f5e7b11:0x18b16982978aefe8!8m2!3d37.136788!4d-85.979919
Funtown Mountain
101 Huckleberry Knob Rd
Cave City, Kentucky
United States
37.136645, -85.978999
Visit Website
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Nearby Places

Dinosaur World

Cave City, Kentucky

miles away

Mammoth Cave Wildlife Museum

Cave City, Kentucky

miles away

Wigwam Village #2

Cave City, Kentucky

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Cave City

Cave City

Kentucky

Places 5

Nearby Places

Dinosaur World

Cave City, Kentucky

miles away

Mammoth Cave Wildlife Museum

Cave City, Kentucky

miles away

Wigwam Village #2

Cave City, Kentucky

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Cave City

Cave City

Kentucky

Places 5

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