route 9....mansion?

welcome to new gretna, where you will find the oddest assemly of super heros, animals and anything else you can imagine. found on route 9, this mansion is...actually there are no words to describe it...maybe...unusual? the property is 'protected' by a salmon colored stucco wall and perched atop are all sorts of creatures ranging from animals, super heros, clowns, dinosaurs, dragons and more. it may seem totally random, but from what i understand, each and every piece found here was carefully placed there by the property's owner. mr. byung taek kim of fort lee, nj, bought the place in 2010 with the intention of renovating it into a summer retreat and shore home for his family. it has everything you would expect a mansion to have...riding stables, a swimming pool, waterfalls, lighted tennis courts, you name it! all that and more. like 400 year old statues of buddah and the 20 foot tall statue of a giraffe (i mean, everyone should have one of those, right??). as i stood on the street out front, it was difficult to take it all in.

there is so much to look at. my personal favorite collection of pieces were the new avengers (as i like to call them)...jesus, his angel sidekick, the red power ranger and the statue of liberty. who would have thought they would make such a great team? mr. byung tack kim, that's who! and the 'drive carefully' signs painted along the front weren't distracting at all. not one bit. but i honestly don't know how one could expect you to 'drive carefully' when you are visually assaulted by what i can only describe as contemporary art? i have no clue what any of it meant or what tied it all together or even if it was supposed to be tied together somehow? i hopped out of my car to walk along the road in front so i could get a closer look. peeking over the fence, i immediately wished i could get inside for a tour, because what you see from the road, is nothing compared to what's going on inside. they should give tours. i would pay good money for it. so would you, you just don't know it yet. when i came upon the pink (yes, i said pink) wrought iron gate, i took a peek in to get a good look at the house. it wasn't a house.

a 3 story stucco mansion lies beyond with a large fountain (it wasn't running, boo!) but what really caught my eye was the sculpture of the wolf lurking just inside the gate. he was angry looking and appeared to have just killed something, as his face was all snarling and bloody. that's right, bloody. not nearly as whimsical as i expcted, a little scary actually. so i took a picture and went no further. of course, it's not real, but in comparison to everything else i had seen, this was the most off putting and caught me completely off guard. i took it as a sign that maybe mr. kim wasn't crazy about people peeking inside his fence. and i guess i can't blame him, i really don't want strangers poking around my yard, i guess. but my yard isn't full of odd creatures, except for me of course. if you are in the area of new gretna, nj, i say veer off the path just a bit and check this out. you won't be sorry you did. if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to message me! make sure you stop by my facebook and instagram pages for more fun photos! on to my next adventure...

#mansion #route9 #newgretna #newjersey #nj #weirdnj #weirdnewjersey #weird #odd #roadsideattraction #roadside