Mount Tabor Park: Home of The Giant Slide

Entrance to Mount Tabor Park in Rocky Ridge, MD

Tucked away on a little country
road in the tiny little town of Rocky Ridge, MD (right next door to the slightly less tiny town of Thurmont) lies a rinky dink looking park with some pretty spectacular surprises inside. Mount Tabor Park on Motters Station Road can easily be accessed from Rt. 15 between Frederick, MD and Gettysburg, PA. You won't see any billboards or even signs pointing you to the spot. There is a just a small sign on the side of the road as you approach the park.

The big draw at Mt. Tabor Park...the reason this park is even on the map...is their Giant Slide. This is bigger than any other sliding board you've ever seen at any other playground or park. This bad boy stands 35 ft. tall and is 100 ft. long! Built in 1951, the slide itself is made from hardwood flooring while the structure is made from lumber sourced right from the park. The slide provides fast rides down it's 100 feet of rippled runway, dropping you off in a nice big box full of sawdust. To aide your ride there are usually various towels, burlap sacks and carpet remnants for you to ride down the slide on, increasing your speed. It's similar to one of those fun slides you see at a carnival, except you don't have to pay four bucks every time you ride.

 

The slide is fun for all ages. Here's my 2 year old who needed some help climbing the long ramp to the top, but didn't need any help taking her own ride down the slide. This monstrosity is big enough for grown-ups as well as kids of any size. Since there's no attendant on hand, like at a carnival, you can ride with a kid in your lap, two kids in your lap, you can race each other, go down backwards, my one son even stood on a beach towel and surfed his way down.

 

 The kids experimented with all different sorts of ways to go down the slide. They had a blast.

 

The park is also home to some other unusual playground equipment like this gigantic carousel. In general, this sort of a thing has been disappearing from playgrounds for years as there are just so many ways for a kid to get hurt on them. Of course, if you watch your children and they use caution/common sense - everybody should have a good time. This particular carousel is huge and could probably hold up to 20 kids. All 3 of my kids had fun spinning around at a leisurely  pace and then we took the Princess off and sped things up and the boys couldn't get enough.

 

 Mount Tabor Park is almost like a museum with all these neat-o antique play things. In addition to traditional swings and a sliding board, you'll also find these old fashioned horse swings which are a neat touch. My daughter loved them and they are plenty sturdy enough for older kids too. The park also houses a large capacity picnic pavilion, even on a crowded day there should be plenty of picnic tables for everybody. Another nearby pavilion in the park is home to dozens of rows of red painted church pews, which would be kind of creepy except that the park is owned by a church...so I guess they do church stuff there sometimes too!?

 

Mount Tabor Park and it's giant slide are unique enough to hunt down this strange little park and make a little road trip out of it. Cunningham Falls State Park and the Catoctin Zoo are also nearby to round out a full day of fun. The park doesn't have a proper address to punch into your GPS, but find your way to Motter's Station Rd and just keep an eye out for the park. If you are coming from Rt. 15, the park will be on your right about 5 minutes down the road.