Heritage USA
USA /
North Carolina /
Pineville /
World
/ USA
/ North Carolina
/ Pineville
World / United States / South Carolina
church, christianity, water park, historical layer / disappeared object
Abandoned Christian amusement park. Largely demolished, some portions of the land have been reused, while others remain empty.
Former PTL headquarters, home of famous televangelists Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker. During the 1980s, it was the third most visited tourist attraction in the US, after Disney World and Disneyland, mostly because it operated as a tax-exempt religious entity and pocketed every penny not spent on overhead.
In 1987, news broke of Jim Bakker's affair with his former secretary and subsequent payment of $150,000 in donated church money as a bribe to ensure her silence. Attendance at the park dropped by 60% basically overnight. Around the same time, the IRS revoked Heritage USA's tax exempt status, basically quintupling their costs.
As was revealed in the bankruptcy and subsequent court trial, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker embezzled and squandered the vast majority of their donations, spending it all on things like an air-conditioned dog house for their dog. They were convicted of running a pyramid scheme on PTL where 165,000 people donated $1,000 for the promise of a 4-night stay at Jim Bakker's planned Heritage USA hotel tower. Bakker never even finished building the tower before bankruptcy, and the 165,000 people received $6.54 each from the bankruptcy.
Jim and Tammy went to jail, a lot of gullible Christians got screwed, and the park remains today!
illicitohio.com/SBNO/heritage/heritage01.html
Former PTL headquarters, home of famous televangelists Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker. During the 1980s, it was the third most visited tourist attraction in the US, after Disney World and Disneyland, mostly because it operated as a tax-exempt religious entity and pocketed every penny not spent on overhead.
In 1987, news broke of Jim Bakker's affair with his former secretary and subsequent payment of $150,000 in donated church money as a bribe to ensure her silence. Attendance at the park dropped by 60% basically overnight. Around the same time, the IRS revoked Heritage USA's tax exempt status, basically quintupling their costs.
As was revealed in the bankruptcy and subsequent court trial, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker embezzled and squandered the vast majority of their donations, spending it all on things like an air-conditioned dog house for their dog. They were convicted of running a pyramid scheme on PTL where 165,000 people donated $1,000 for the promise of a 4-night stay at Jim Bakker's planned Heritage USA hotel tower. Bakker never even finished building the tower before bankruptcy, and the 165,000 people received $6.54 each from the bankruptcy.
Jim and Tammy went to jail, a lot of gullible Christians got screwed, and the park remains today!
illicitohio.com/SBNO/heritage/heritage01.html
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritage_USA
Nearby cities:
Coordinates: 35°3'14"N 80°54'37"W
- Victory Christian Center 10 km
- Pleasant Hill Presbyterian Church 11 km
- North Rock Hill Church 11 km
- Morningstar United Methodist Church 14 km
- Steele Creek Presbyterian Church and Cemetery 15 km
- Billy Graham Evangelistic Association & Library 16 km
- Catawba Heights Baptist Church 27 km
- Unity Baptist Church 48 km
- Church of God 54 km
- Pleasant Grove Methodist Church 58 km
- Regent Park at Baden Village 0.4 km
- Fallbrook 0.4 km
- Springfield Golf Club 1.5 km
- Springfield 1.7 km
- Regent Park Golf Club 2.1 km
- Foxwood 3.1 km
- Forest Lakes 3.1 km
- Anne Springs Close Greenway 3.2 km
- Steele Creek 10 km
- York County, South Carolina 25 km
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