Saturday evening after Christmas, Jowanna, Josh and I headed to Jordon’s Furniture in Avon to see The Enchanted Village, a beloved New England traditional holiday display now at Jordon’s Furniture. We were pleased to find The Enchanted Village at Jordon’s Furniture fully wheelchair accessible and easy for me to view while in my chair.
The Enchanted Village is open to the public for FREE from November through mid January. The hours of operation are: Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. We took a video of our visit to The Enchanted Village for our readers who have never seen this magical holiday display.
As for the HISTORY of The Enchanted: In 1958, Jordan Marsh Company paid a Bavarian toy maker to create The Enchanted Village. This magical village is an 8,000-square-foot display of 28 fully decorated holiday scenes with 250 “magically” animated figures. Throughout the 1960s until 1972, Jordan Marsh displayed The Enchanted Village in its Downtown Crossing store and it became a beloved New England holiday tradition. My mom’s parents brought her to see The Enchanted Village at Jordon Marsh every holiday when she was young.
In 1972, Jordon Marsh closed and The Enchanted Village closed as well. When Macy’s bought Jordon Marsh in 1998, The Enchanted Village was sold to the City of Boston for a City Hall Plaza display. I used to travel to Boston to see it every holiday it was on display here. Then in 2003, The Enchanted Village was moved to the Hynes Convention Center in Boston which I also saw.
In 2006 Boston stopped displaying it due to lack of funding. In May of 2009, Eliot Tatelman, president and chief executive of Jordon’s Furniture bought all the pieces of the The Enchanted Village in auction run by Boston City Hall for $140,000. Jordon’s Furniture rescued The Enchanted Village from near extinction for it would have been disassembled and sold piece by piece. Now this beloved New England holiday tradition lives on at Jordon’s Furniture.
Jordon’s Furniture is not your typical furniture store; it is a great recreational place to visit as well. I’ve been to M.O.M. at Jordon’s Furniture in Avon and love the unique experience.
Jordon’s Furniture has plenty of handicap accessible parking spaces close to main entrance. Entering Jordon’s Furniture is easy for there are wide automatic entry doors. Once inside, I was pleased to see how spacious it is. Jordon’s Furniture provides loaner wheelchairs and baby strollers for any persons in need. There is direct access to The Enchanted Village on the first floor where you will also see beautiful furniture for sale.
The Enchanted Village is beautiful and easy to see all the displays and animated figures which you can see on our video. I especially loved watching jolly old Saint Nick calling his reindeers! The Barber Shop looked so real that I was tempted to wheel inside for a hair cut:-) And the bulldog sitting outside the Pet Shop was adorable! After seeing The Enchanted Village we needed to pass by more furniture displays and take the elevator to main level in order to exit. The elevator is spacious and really cool for it has glass on the side. The restrooms are spacious, wheelchair accessible and fully ADA compliant.
The Enchanted Village gets FIVE STARS for wheelchair accessibility. Eliot Tatelman and Jordon’s Furniture deserve FIVE STARS as well for allowing The Enchanted Village to live on in New England!