Not only is someone looking after Elmer Long’s Bottle Tree Ranch near Oro Grande, California, but he is adding to it three years after the creator’s death.
According to ABC10 in Los Angeles, Brian McKinsey now serves as caretaker of the Route 66 landmark. The story contains this encouraging excerpt:
McKinsey says it’s not uncommon for the Bottle Tree Ranch to see 500 people a day and the forest is always growing.
“There are about 200 trees. I’ve added about 15 myself,” said McKinsey.
Elmer loved to inspire his visitors and wanted to make it accessible for everyone. Donations are accepted but there is no fee to enter the ranch. You can stop by any time.
Here’s the video:
After Long’s death of cancer at age 72 in 2019, the fate of the Bottletree Ranch seemed uncertain for months, and the site’s hours were somewhat fitful.
A family member shortly after said they’re “determined to make sure it stays around forever.”
It appears Long’s kin made good on that promise.
Long’s roadside park — made of recycled bottles on welded trees and festooned with random objects, including a typewriter — began about the year 2000. It became known worldwide and even served as a backdrop in a horror film.
Long almost certainly took inspiration for his property from Miles Mahan’s Half Acre, aka Hulaville, which had a few bottle trees along with other quirky stuff in nearby Hesperia, California.
Mahan’s Half Acre was bulldozed shortly after Mahan’s death in 1997, although a few artifacts remain on display at the California Route 66 Museum in nearby Victorville.
(Image of Bottle Tree Ranch near Oro Grande, California, by Peter Lawther via Flickr)