We were at Hemmorage USA once, but it wasn't all that fun, and it was kind of messy.
oh yeah. we packed the station wagon and waited for hours to drive through the big christmas extravaganza in '87 or '88.
that whole scandal was quite something. shortly after it broke my friends and i were at southpark mall (i grew up in charlotte) and saw tammy walking out of accessory lady, so we had to follow her around for a bit, snickering. i saw her again at a daryl's in orlando a few years later, a trail of perfume and powder and a massive (what appeard to be gay male) entourage.
I don't know anything about Heritage USA but I toured the Freedom Train when it came through in 1976. choo choo! Freedom, anyone?
On that note, has anyone watched that show about Jamie (Jay) Bakker, and his ministry? His mom looks very ill in the episode where he goes to see her.
Jim and Tammy started here in the area I live in. Their show came on out of Portsmouth, and I always wanted to get in the studio to be a part of the audience. Back then, they had "The Jim and Tammy Show". It was geared toward children, and had puppets and contests and things. My mom said that I would actually cry when Jim gave the big can of Tootsie Rolls to a kid that had won something, and not to me. Guess I was covetting, huh??
Their ministry started out being above board in every way, IMO. But mom says she could tell he had aspirations even in the late '60's.
The Ladies Auxillary at our church made, and sold chocolate Easter eggs. The proceeds were sent to the Bakker's to raise money for a bigger outreach.
Jim did acknowledge my mom's group for sending the money. But in the very next breath, condemned the act of making Easter eggs, when it had nothing to do with the Resurrection! Mom cusses a lot after the story gets to that point!
it looks like it would have been a nice place had it been finished.
I remember going there as a small kid as wel. My parents thought it was a great place.
I went to the waterpark several times in the '80s and then again once in the '90s when it reopened.
The golf course is still pretty nice. You can still see the tower from some of the tee boxes.
Ack! The nightmare of the PTL!! Affectionately called "Pass the Loot" by Charlotte's Murphy in the Morning back in the 70's. Jim and Tammy were the most fake of any supposed evangelical that ever existed!!!!
Many stories to share but for now - The same time that Mamasita was trailing Tammy around SouthPark, my (then future) Sister in law was working part time at Ivy's. (Gawd, I miss that store!) Tammy would waltz in with her entourage, snap her fingers at the sales people and demand that they bring her this, that and the other to try on. Everything she tried on but didn't buy was totally ruined by her excessive make-up. And what she did want to purchase she asked for a discount because "there's a bit of make-up on this." It was HER make-up!!!!!
To cut their losses, Ivy's instructed their sales staff to go ahead and wait on her hand and foot to try to minimize the damage which was always more than the amount of what she ever purchased.
I really wish Hemorrhage USA had been sold off and all their contributors repaid a bit of what the Bakkers squandered!