It’s true! Back in 1932, four-year old Madeline Maypole stood outside Forest Lawn in Glendale and with the greatest of ease, moved 10,000 pounds of wrought iron.  The amazing feat occurred when she closed the then brand new entrance gates at Forest Lawn.

Those gates are the largest wrought iron gates in the world: twice as wide as the famous entrance gates of Buckingham Palace, and five feet higher. They are much larger than other well-known gates of the old Imperial Palace in Istanbul, Turkey, the gates of the Palace of Justice in Paris, or those at the former Imperial Palace in Potsdam, Germany.

Forest Lawn’s entrance gates measure 25 feet high and 80 feet wide. The design is early English Renaissance. Incorporated into the design are  the coats of arms of some famous English and Scottish family names represented in  churches and other buildings located in the Memorial–Park—Penn, Douglas, Laurie, and the family of Forest Lawn’s founder, the Eatons.

Each of the gates weighs 5,000 pounds each, but they are so perfectly balanced that they may be opened or closed with your finger tips.

Even a four year old can open them, as little Madeline Maypole proved!