From Staff Reports 

MAGGIE VALLEY —  New life could be on the way for Ghost Town Village, the shuttered amusement park in Maggie Valley, with a potential buyer expressing interest in reviving it, Asheville television station WLOS (News 13) reported on May 7 and 8. 

Ghost Town owner Jill McClure told News 13 that the potential buyer is from Florida, where he operates an entertainment venue.

“Not a big attraction, but one I think that Maggie Valley can accommodate – something similar. Actually, not even similar. It will be a totally different venue. They love country music, rodeos, convention-type events, festivals,” McClure said.

News 13 added that “she is not naming the potential buyer yet or what he operates in Florida, but she said he’s likely to keep the western town. McClure also said the plan would be to keep the park family-friendly.”

She then told the TV station, “It’s my intention to sell the park for something for entertainment that will help Maggie Valley’s tourism industry. I don’t want to see housing put all over the top of it.”

News 13 noted that “this latest development comes after a long journey for McClure, who inherited Ghost Town from her late aunt, Alaska Presley, who died in 2022. Two years earlier, Presley had gone into equal partnership with developer Frankie Wood.

“In Presley’s absence, Ghost Town’s future was in the hands of legal maneuvering between McClure and Wood. However, Wood passed away in the fall of 2024.

“McClure now has full discretion about what happens next to Ghost Town. ‘I am the sole owner, member and manager. I had a professional appraisal done by the Palmer Company, and it was valued at $6.4 million, and that includes 285 acres,’ McClure said. ‘If by chance this does not come to fruition, I will be putting the property on the market.’”