By SHERRI SMITH BROWN

Adopted in 1985 at Babyland General Hospital, Cabbage Patch Kid Nell Nessie resides in Brianna’s playroom, waiting for another brother or sister to join her.

I admit that I’m one of those parents who traveled all the way to the North Georgia mountain town of Cleveland in the mid-1980s and stood in line to adopt a Cabbage Patch Kid for my daughter, Ashley.

Back then, artist Xavier Roberts had been making and adopting his handmade soft sculpture Little People Originals® for about a decade from Babyland General Hospital, a turn-of-the-century medical facility in Cleveland that Roberts had renovated and opened to the public. In 1982, he had decided to license his dolls with a major toy manufacturer to produce toy replicas, changing their name to Cabbage Patch Kids®—a name that would identify the toy dolls as well as the handmade originals.

This is where the trouble began for moms and dads across the country. The “Kids” were so popular that supply simply could not keep up with demand. The Kids flew off toy store shelves. In fact, CPK went on record as the most successful new doll introduction in the history of the toy industry and were featured on the cover of Newsweek in December 1983. It was extremely difficult to even find one—unless you made the trek to Babyland General Hospital. Thank goodness, we at least lived in the state of Georgia. It was just a two-hour drive! (more…)