Abandoned Rocky Point Amusement Park | Rhode Island Icon

You're looking at Rocky Point Park in Rhode Island, today it looks like a great field, but back in the day, well, let me show you on TV. Rocky Point Amusement Park is legendary in Rhode Island history for many reasons. It was the ideal place every summer attractions games concerts the world's largest Shore Dinner Hall was everything you could want. Rhode Islanders love this place, but it closed for good in 1996 and almost 30 years later we still can't stop talking about it today Rocky Point For the most part it has returned to the wild and it's hard to imagine there ever was a bustling and noisy

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park

right here.

It's crazy to see it like this considering Rocky Point was once home to a famous band, a president, generations of visitors and most importantly me in 1994, thanks for the photos mom, especially this one. one where I cried not because we had to leave but because The Flume got me wet and I didn't want to get wet. Plus, with Rocky Point Park on the list of

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s of Rhode Island, it continues the tradition of most places from my childhood being

abandoned

like my high school, the largest on the east coast of America, or the baseball stadium I went to.

I went every summer to see the Pucket Red Sox and even another part of my childhood fun, the Enchanted Forest, but today we're talking about a place near and dear to everyone in Rhode Island, a place whose history stretches back to the 1840s. until 1996, with a lot happening in between. Welcome to the abandoned Rocky Point

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park

. Let me start with some Rhode Island rules before we jump into the story one saying something bad about Rocky Point Park is actually considered treason in the state two literally everyone who lives in Rhode Island has a story about Rocky Point everyone three no matter what pass with this site in the future it will always be where Rocky Point Amusement Park used to be let's have a moment of silence for our other Fallen

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s okay great now let's jump into my time machine which for this trip is a plate of clam cakes, it will make sense later, okay, come with your family, come with your friends.

Going back to 1847, Captain William Winslow, a steamboat co-owner, purchased 89 acres here after taking Sunday excursions along the coast and seeing its potential as a tourist destination within a few years. Winslow's Rocky Point became the bay's most popular seaside resort in 1862. Captain Wiso sold it to Byron Sprag, who converted it into an expensive resort. He built a private mansion, a 10-story observation tower and a 300-room hotel, but financial difficulties forced Spr to sell the land in 1869 to the American Steamboat Company, which opened Rocky. Aimed again at the public and introduced plenty of attractions, including a shooting gallery, stages for musical acts, mop-up artists and stage animals.

Then, in 1877, Rocky Point secured its place in history. President Rutherford B. Haes visited the park and made the first presidential telephone call. to Alexander Granbell, who is stationed 13 miles away in Providence. I need you to speak a little slower, yes, those were the first words spoken by a president on the phone, but you know they talked about white soup being the best soup ever. It is and that is a fact in 1884, the Continental Steamboat Company took possession of Rocky Point and master showman Randall a Harrington ran the parties here at that time Rocky Point ceased to operate as a resort after a massive fire burned down the hotel in 1883 to be able to expand.

Harrington built a scenic railroad, added a carousel, and built a new shoreline dining hall on stilts above the bay, which brings us to one of the most heralded events in New England, the Rocky Point clambake dinner. These dinners were so popular that over a thousand bushels of clams were purchased. consumed one day these dinners were enormous, both in the number of people eating together and the amount of food, the dinners at Rocky Point would continue to be a legend in the early 1900s, the park expanded under the leadership of Harrington, a of the attractions he added.

Was the circle swing a popular park attraction at the time? It spun and spun visitors at 100 m per hour. No, I'm just kidding. Part of this ride is still in the park today and looks like an oil drilling platform. The circular swing. It was in operation until 1920, but this Tower continued to be used for spinning attractions until 1965. Another relic of the period is located at the top of the hill. Here, this large round stone structure that many people believed was the base of the massive Spr Tower, but its true purpose is Much more practical is to see the Old Rocky Point water tank that supplied water to the park until they began to install pipes at City Water.

The mystery was solved in 1913, now when advertising brochures

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ed out that Rocky Point is an 89-acre park with attractions at each The twist was so tremendous that with the crowd of 75,000 people in the grounds there is still room for many thousands more and thank you to the electrified Warwick railway line and a tram service, people from all over were able to travel more easily to the park increasing attendance and making this the place to be in the summer, it wasn't just clan meals and Carney games, although Rock Rocky Point also made a mark in the realm of baseball games, challenging the blue law that prohibited or regulated entertainment and business activities on Sundays or religious activities. vacation Randle Harrington was kind of a bad boy, huh?

Babe Ruth, the legendary baseball player, played two games in the park in 1914 for Providence Grace, in the second game he hit a triple that bounced off the ocean and I like to think he threw a huge git right after, until the early 1900s , Rocky Point continued to attract thousands of visitors until 1938, the last time the park would look like this, specifically the hurricane of 1938, the Category 3 storm devastated Rhode Island without warning as that technology did not exist at the time. It remains the most powerful and deadliest hurricane in recorded New England history, with winds reaching 132 mph.

As for Rocky Point, the Providence Journal reported that it fell like a house of cards to Southeast Fury, the oldest and most famous seaside resort. of the state no longer existed, the dining hall was destroyed, Midway vandalized, and the giant wooden roller coaster, the Wildcat, was reduced to splinters. That's not the craziest part, although the year before someone tampered with the monkey cage at Midway and 11 Broke Free, some were caught. but the rest lived in the woods surrounding Warwick, which is where they were when the hurricane hit. Locals came to know and befriend the monkeys on the loose and were relieved to learn that although the park was destroyed by the hurricane, the monkeys survived.

For a time it seemed like Rhode Island's oldest and largest amusement park had come to an end, as the entire area began to reel from the effects of the storm. This aerial image from 1939 shows the shattered shoreline and the remains of some of the buildings due to the restrictions imposed by World War II the park was not largely reopened until June 1948 this grand reopening was delayed massive fanfare crowds and traffic jams Traffic backed up to nearby towns over 35,000 patrons invaded the park, fucking Rocky Point was back this grand reopening was thanks to new owners Vincent Furla and his brother Conrad aka Mr Rocky Points.

Conrad is really the hero of the story, he managed the park from 1949 to 1986, he was the person everyone associated with the park and he was practically everywhere all day long. him touring the park on his motorcycle checking out rides at Midway and even picking up trash. Conrad is the man behind the scenes of a lot of memorabilia from this era of Rocky Point In 1954, Hurricane Carol swept through the state once again causing extensive damage to Rocky. Point Park, including the Ferris wheel that broke loose from its structure and the iconic Shore Dinner Hall that was destroyed, but that stopped the furor from continuing.

No, a new Shore Dinner Hall was built, the fourth one I'm sure everyone remembers. the largest in the world and the party continued in Rhode Island with visitors enjoying the Rocky Point Clam dinner and then taking the rides after the Skyliner took people into the air, the Wildcat roller coaster, the Enterprise whipping people at 100 m per hour, just kidding again, or am I the legendary one? House of Horrors complete with torture chamber personally. I didn't get to enjoy these things because I spent my time in Kitty Land on attractions like the vintage cars or taking a train ride on the Rocky Point Express, whose abandoned remains still wind through the woods here.

This train would take you around the front of the park and even under some of the RO attractions, giving you views of all the magic here since Rhode Island is the smallest state. This whole thing was like having an amusement park in our backyard because that's exactly what we had you want to be thrown on a roller coaster you want to be so scared you cry like I did then you walk into his house you want to be spun around on your fives different ways you want to ride a giant thing called a spider SP or maybe you want to get wet just ride the Ripa to Rhode Island's backyard and I know it's basically one giant field today but there are still more abandoned reminders of what there used to be here, for example, the giant saltwater pool, of which there were two.

Versions of the original hosted the 1936 Olympic trials and were destroyed by the 1938 hurricane. It was rebuilt bigger and better in 1949 and was a hit at the park, often filled with patrons who could visit without having to enter the park, unfortunately. It was filled with concrete in the 1980s after decreasing use and expensive maintenance. Another relic here are the remains of the Skyliner in operation from 1966 to 1995. It was a gondola ride that took visitors to the top of the park and descended offering a view. Of all that Rocky Point had to offer, I really remember riding this in '94.

Here's a photo my dad took of my mom and sister on the gondola behind us. Today, the supports stood alone on the field along with the section that once powered everything. Sitting at the top of the hill, probably the park's most distinctive feature still remaining from its heyday is the giant arch overlooking the ocean, measuring 6.60 feet tall. The arch is actually one of 11 General Foods arches that stood at the top of the hill. Built for the 1964 New York World's Fair, its purpose was to act as a Rend Vu

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where families and groups could gather. He settled in Rocky Point in 1966 and has remained here ever since.

Let's talk now about the design of the park and me. I'm referring to the final design before it closed permanently in 1996. This is the version of the park that most of us remember. You're looking at a visitor's guide that was published in the mid-1980s, plus smaller details like exactly what attractions were in Kitty Land. The biggest attraction missing here is the free fall installed in 1988, which would drop riders 60 feet in less than 2 seconds. Otherwise, this is the last version of Rocky Point we all went to. There was the padio that housed famous bands like Janice Joplin, ACDC and Red Hot Chili.

Peppers and leprechauns and an appearance by President George Bush in 1990 and I just have to say I'm glad you visited the Rocky Point Palladium Hey, listen, this is the first time I've been to an amusement park in years. the smaller venue, Wind Jammer, which would host events and banquets throughout the year. Yes, you could even get married at Rocky Point, here, it was The Flume, a huge water attraction opened in 1971 that got me wet when I didn't want to get wet. The music expresses a colorful rock and roll ride that spun riders around the track at 12 revolutions per minute, but probably the best-known ride at Rocky Point was the Cork Crew, a gigantic roller coaster with a full loop of 360 degrees and two corkscrews.

The thing was sick and the hype was real, a legitimate roller coaster ride in Rhode Island. Hell yes, the Corkscrew was installed for the 1984 Park season and was built from the ground up for Rocky Point due to the addition of a 360 Loop to the original Corkscrew design it became. A park icon that appeared ominously in the background wherever you were, the corkscrew was a hit and Rocky Point continued to draw crowds. Well, if Rocky Point was so big, why does it look like that today? Many reports point to growth. of car ownership and the development of highways, which meant people could travel and find entertainment over a much wider area.

Cheap air travel also made it easier for families to visit Disney World and other megaparks. In many cases, these older amusement parks were leftobsolete and obsolete. Despite their charm, they simply couldn't compete with the size and budgets of places like Disneyland Universal or Six Flags, but that's not really what happened with Rocky Point because it still drew crowds, so what happened in May 1990 , the failure The Bank of New England demanded payment of nearly $5 million in mortgages that the owners of Rocky Point had taken out on the park and money from several unrelated companies that were not yet owed and that the owners did not have to the With the official bankruptcy filing that the states were struggling to obtain other financing in 1991, Rocky Point's owners quickly entered into a lending relationship with Fairway Capital Corporation where Fairway loaned Rocky Point $5.3 million at 15% interest. 5% annually for 20 years, but with a balloon payment due in 5 years under this new loan Rocky Point was required to pay interest of approximately $900,000 per year and to achieve this would have to save $50,000 per week during the operating season.

Damn, they would have to sell like a million clam cakes to break even, which they didn't do. The next 5 years were appropriately described as a roller coaster ride as the park owners struggled to generate the revenue needed to maintain the park. park in operation. In October 1995, a federal judge approved a reorganization plan that authorized a debt restructuring. owners to operate the park in a reduce the budget or liquidate it and sell the assets of the park considering that the business was not viable the owners chose the second option on two dreary and rainy days for Rocky Point the auction of the assets was held on the 16th and April 17, 1996 you are buying everything today, like and without Warr, whatever it was, Express, everything was for sale, ride accessories, signs, everything that was part of our park memories was offered to the highest bidder , piece by piece, Rocky Point was dismantled and the largest attractions found new homes.

However, around the world, the park reopened for the 1996 summer season under new ownership as the Rocky Point Family Fair. It was a test of sorts to see if the property was worth saving as a seasonal fairground, but the turnout wasn't enough to continue. idea in future seasons and Rocky Point as an amusement park closed forever in the following years, the park was abandoned on the shore and the remaining buildings, including the legendary Shore Dinner Hall, rotted away a series of fires, vandalism and the dangers that proposed to have these accessible structures led the city of Warwick to demolish everything that remained while the amusement park as we know it disappeared.

I think there's a happy ending here, the town of Warwick then reclaimed the shoreline by turning it into a state park in 2014, providing a renewed space for locals and visitors to enjoy, yes it may not be the big amusement park that everyone we remember, but it's also not a gated community housing development or commercial space, it goes back to how William Winsel saw it in the 19th century, a quiet place along the coasts. of Rhode Island we can still enjoy it in a different way and even if Rocky Point Amusement Park never returns, we still have all those memories throughout all those decades and we can still agree that white soup is the best soup, thank you.

David took a chance on his work on You Must Be This Tall, the Story of Rocky Point, an incredible documentary that contained a wealth of information along with the accompanying book. Thank you, Paul sitco, for sending me photos that I can't find anywhere online or in the archives. Thank you George Lacrosse for your in-depth coverage of everything Rocky Point Remembered on your website and in your Facebook group, and thank you to everyone who shared memories, photos and videos of Rocky Point over the years to see icons more interesting Rhode Island like this one. and learn about the history of it, you can watch the rest of my Abandoned series above on my YouTube channel right now.

Thanks so much for looking.