Here There Be Trolls…
“We have to take you guys to Aullwood to see the trolls!”
This is a sentence not commonly encountered, so we were intrigued.
At the Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm (in Dayton, Ohio), there is a recycle sculpture exhibit by the world-renowned Danish recycle artist Thomas Dambo entitled “The Troll That Hatched an Egg“. Opened to the public in 2021, it features an artistic representation of the story of a family of three trolls, Bo, Bodil, and Bibbi, and their troll-sized bird nest complete with “eggs”.
Rhonda’s cousin Krista suggested we take a trip with her and her husband Todd to the center, hike the grounds, and check out the sculptures. Apparently, this is one of only nine Dambo troll exhibits nationwide, so the opening of this exhibit is a pretty big deal!
Needless to say, we were game.
The Aullwood Audubon Center is not state-funded, so entering requires paying the $12 entrance fee (for adults), which is understandable. The welcome center was an impressive building with interpretive areas, animal exhibits, and educational classrooms.
We decided to explore the 8 miles of hiking trails on the ground first, hunting down troll sites as we go. Eight miles sounds like a lot, but in actuality, the trail network is made up of many smaller trails which add to a total of 8 miles. To fully explore the grounds really only requires 3 or 4 miles of actual walking, with the remaining trails being connectors. Because of this, no matter where you are on the grounds, it is only a short walk back to the main center.
From the center, we descended into the woods.
And quickly stumbled across the troll-sized bird nest…
Complete with “eggs” that apparently the trolls thought needed to be cared for.
The trail meandered through a wide range of environments, including meadows…
And streams…
And around boggy ponds.
Eventually, our route took us into another large meadow where we could see evidence of troll activity in the distance.
This first troll encounter featured the daughter Bibbi and her attempts to fly, so she could try to talk with the giant metal birds.
These locally-sourced sculptures from recycled materials are big!
Onward into the forest again…
After about another half-mile walk, we encountered father troll Bo.
Very cool how Bo is integrated into the stream shoreline.
Bo butt closeup.
We continued onward and encountered the Aullwood Farm portion of the grounds.
A very nice working farm with a variety of animals.
After the farm, the trail continued onward to the site where mother troll Bodil was gathering “eggs” from the metal birds.
Very cool exhibit and worth the visit to be sure! Can’t say we’ve ever encountered an artistic installation quite like this and it deserves the attention it is getting.
We eventually made it back to our car and started the Dayton pub crawl phase of our day. The memories of what we did and where we went are fuzzy. But in searching my pictures I have photographic evidence that we visited The Dayton Beer Company and sampled their meager selection of libations.
Good times. Thanks to Krista and Todd for showing us around!
Thanks for reading! Feel free to drop a comment in the comments section below.
6 thoughts on “Here There Be Trolls…”
Wow, had no idea this was up there! I think we need to do a family trip up to see this.
Definitely! The Dambo exhibits last about 5 years due to natural decay, so I absolutely recommend checking it out sooner than later.
What kind of materials were the statues made of? Could you identify what had been recycled to make them?
Yep! Old used wooden shingles and boards from used wooden pallets, with branches and other natural materials from the actual site made up the bulk of the exhibits. I think many of the shingles may have been made on site from downed branches too.
That looks amazing. Thank you for sharing!!!
Our pleasure!