Vacation Idea: Follow The REAL Yellow Brick Road

While many LGBT vacationers opt for the cool, queer-friendly climes of Fire Island or Provincetown, there’s another option for those who prefer to take the road less traveled: the Yellow Brick Road.

Yes, folks, that Yellow Brick Road. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, historian John Curran has identified a stretch of yellow-bricked road in Peekskill, New York as the inspiration for the one that Dorothy famously traveled in L. Frank Baum’s children’s novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Although scholars in other parts of the country might beg to differ, Curran has conducted years of research and concluded that this bit of road is the one that sparked Baum’s imagination. Curran’s argument is based in part on fact: Baum lived two years of his young life in Peekskill, attending a military academy there. Legend has it that when he stepped off the boat and asked for directions to the school, he was told to “follow the yellow brick road”.

Unfortunately for Curran — not to mention historians, preservationists, and literary types — only a small portion of the yellow brick road still exists today, and even that is being threatened with blacktop “improvements”. If you’re the sort of vacationer who likes to say, “I was there!”, we’d suggest getting your pic on Peekskill’s yellow brick road sooner rather than later.

[via Towleroad]