Today we decided to venture out to uncharted territory for us. I grabbed my camera and hiking boots and stepped out of my car, through a hole in a fence, and back in time. I imagine most people around my age and older remember all the little amusement parks that have now been closed and long forgotten. There were many on the little lakes. My Mom would tell me wonderful stories of going dancing the night away at the Myers Lake Ballroom. When I was a teenager we would sneak back into the old Myers Lake Park and explore-there stood the remains of an old wooden rollercoaster. Being a teenager of course there may have been a little parking and sipping on some Mickey’s forty ouncers. I also have fond memories of Playland Park –which seemed like such a long drive and so vast when we were little. These parks are mostly gone, ghostly shells of the past with very few pieces of history remaining, or they have been torn down and replaced by condos and developments.
As we approached the park and decided where we should leave the car my heart began to beat faster. When we crawled through the hole in the fence my heart was really pounding and the adventure had begun. I didn’t see chipped overgrown asphalt and dilapidated structures. I saw vividly -smiling workers taking people’s hard earned wages while they gathered the family for the big day of excitement. Moms carrying picnic baskets and trying to contain the energy of delighted children so anxious to ride every ride they could. The smell of cotton candy, popcorn, peanuts, hotdogs and hot metal filling the air. The workers wiping down windows and sweeping up crumbs. Dad’s carrying toddlers on their shoulders. The entire world that had been vacant for 36 years was full of life to me. Not that there wasn’t the occasional empty beer can –evidence that others sneak in this area regularly-but all in all nature had just taken it’s toll. It appeared that there had been a fire in one of the structures in the past but little information on it only charred timbers and metal twisted from the heat remained. This was a functioning amusement park from 1878 to 1978-now that is a chunk of history, to think all the things that happened to this country during all those years.
For an hour and a half we crawled over and under and through the remains of things and all the overgrowth carefully as not to disturb what was there. Mother nature has certainly been doing her best to reclaim this area and make it hers like it was before 1878. When I felt satisfied that we had explored most of this park we left, I think I would have enjoyed staying the entire day there- even in it’s current state- and enjoyed a lunch that we had packed, but we had spent enough time for now.
As we approached the park and decided where we should leave the car my heart began to beat faster. When we crawled through the hole in the fence my heart was really pounding and the adventure had begun. I didn’t see chipped overgrown asphalt and dilapidated structures. I saw vividly -smiling workers taking people’s hard earned wages while they gathered the family for the big day of excitement. Moms carrying picnic baskets and trying to contain the energy of delighted children so anxious to ride every ride they could. The smell of cotton candy, popcorn, peanuts, hotdogs and hot metal filling the air. The workers wiping down windows and sweeping up crumbs. Dad’s carrying toddlers on their shoulders. The entire world that had been vacant for 36 years was full of life to me. Not that there wasn’t the occasional empty beer can –evidence that others sneak in this area regularly-but all in all nature had just taken it’s toll. It appeared that there had been a fire in one of the structures in the past but little information on it only charred timbers and metal twisted from the heat remained. This was a functioning amusement park from 1878 to 1978-now that is a chunk of history, to think all the things that happened to this country during all those years.
For an hour and a half we crawled over and under and through the remains of things and all the overgrowth carefully as not to disturb what was there. Mother nature has certainly been doing her best to reclaim this area and make it hers like it was before 1878. When I felt satisfied that we had explored most of this park we left, I think I would have enjoyed staying the entire day there- even in it’s current state- and enjoyed a lunch that we had packed, but we had spent enough time for now.
RSS Feed