Is it really the end of the Forest Dinner?

The most recent buzz surrounding the Ellicott City area regards the demolition on the strip of Route 40 just west of the Long and Foster office, across the street from the former amusement park and now-shopping center the Enchanted Forest.

Across the lot where the legendary Soft Stuff ice cream stand reigns, the historic Forest Motel and Forest Diner have been reduced to nothing but piles of rubble. The Forest Motel was a commonly known Howard County feature since its opening in 1958. The adjacent Forest Diner was held very dearly in its customers’ hearts for more than 66 years, where it began in this location as a railroad sidecar in 1946. The original car is the only part of the building still standing. Both the Forest Motel and Diner were destroyed this past Memorial Day Weekend in a project to develop new retail space. The current bare lot draws noticeable attention to commuters along Baltimore National Pike, featuring a blatant openness clear through to Frederick Road on the other side, with the exclusion of scattered dirt, debris, and yellow construction vehicles.

What’s next? The plan is to create a retail and apartment space called Forest Green, which will feature various businesses and shops including the traditional Soft Stuff ice cream shop in a new, updated parlor with an expanded menu, indoor and outdoor seating, and restrooms. The current wooden shack that has served customers so long will be destroyed after the ice cream season ends in the fall. The Forest Motel is no more, but the Forest Diner’s staff and menu will go to the restaurant Jilly’s in Enchanted Forest.  During a recent visit to Jilly’s for breakfast a Forest Dinner waitress advised me the original dinner was a train car and the Historical Society want to retain the train car on the site.  While it has not been decided, they make have Soft stuff use it to serve out of.

Some residents are excited at the prospect of a new shopping center and improved Soft Stuff ice cream, but others were sad to see the historic diner and traditional motel go. It seems to them that Howard County is expanding so rapidly in terms of community centers and residences that perhaps developers should take a step back and preserve some of the legacies that make Ellicott City so unique.