Holy Land restoration almost complete in Waterbury
If you’ve ever driven through Waterbury on I-84, you’ve probably seen a giant cross overlooking the city at Holy Land.
Holy Land used to be a Bible theme park. It’s been mostly unattended since it closed in the 80s, oly Land used to be a Bible theme park that opened in the 1950s.
It closed in the 80s and has been left mostly unattended, with the exception of Easter Mass and other events. Now, change is coming, and volunteers have been working hard to restore Holy Land.
They’re making it into a Stations of the Cross trail, and anyone will be welcome to walk the windy path, enjoy the history of the landmark or pray.
“We are getting down to crunch time now, lots of finishing touches,” said Stephen Rice of the Holy Land Board of Directors.
“Back in its hayday it used to get 20 to 30 tour buses here on the weekend,” Rice said.
The last time substantial work was done was installing the cross over a decade ago. All that’s left from the theme park are some statues and the iconic ‘HOLY LAND USA” sign.
“This is the path, purposefully done like this to walk through the woods, try to keep everything as natural as possible,” Rice said.
An initiative years in the making is coming to purpose, with donations covering an installation of the 14 Stations of the Cross on the property. The Stations of the Cross are a Catholic tradition that represent the final hours of Jesus Christ’s life.
“Get the people, the faithful to come back, come up and pray, do their thing,” Rice said.
It’s a third of a mile long and it’s windy by design, representing the curves of life.
The contractors you see here are all volunteers, and they’re finalizing the stages of the stations and making an amphitheatre for reflection.
“We’re putting a granite counterpiece on each station, the station will sit on top of that, and each station will be covered in bullet proof glass,” Rice said.
It’s not just for the religious though. It’s open to the public during sunrise and might be particularly interesting to history buffs.
The plan is for everything to be complete and ready by Aug. 13.
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