Jump to content

Pleasure Island (Massachusetts amusement park)

From Alfawiki
Adapted from the English Wikipedia article Pleasure Island (Massachusetts amusement park), available under CC BY-SA 4.0Updated 30 November 20256 sources
Pleasure Island
Company typeAmusement park
IndustryEntertainment
Founded1959
FounderWilliam Hawkes
Defunct1969
Headquarters
Wakefield
,
United States
Area served
New England

Pleasure Island was an amusement park located in Wakefield, Massachusetts, which operated between 1959 and 1969. Promoted as the "Disneyland of the Northeast," the park encountered financial difficulties primarily due to the limited duration of New England summers and experienced several changes in ownership.[1]

History

The park was established by William Hawkes, who was the publisher of Child Life magazine,[2] and its design was crafted by Cornelius Vanderbilt Wood, a prominent figure involved in creating Disneyland and Lake Havasu City.[3] Covering ,[2] Pleasure Island featured numerous attractions such as the Space Rocket ride, Pirate Ride, Moby-Dick Hunt with a mechanical whale, dark rides including the Wreck of the Hesperus and Old Chisholm Trail, along with themed dining venues, retail shops, an arcade, mini-golf added in 1967, a carousel, Monkey Island, among others.[4]

Visitors could enjoy live entertainment like staged gunfights in Western City and interactive boat excursions.[2] Additionally, the park operated a narrow gauge railroad leased from the Edaville Railroad.

The Show Bowl served as a venue for notable performers including Ricky Nelson, Michael Landon, The Modernaires, the Three Stooges, Clayton Moore, Don Ameche, and Cesar Romero.[1]

Product integration was evident within attractions; for instance, Pepperidge Farm was featured at the Grist Mill and Pepsi-Cola sponsored the Diamond Lil Theater. At one point, the park’s mascot was Popeye.[5]

Currently, the location is occupied by Edgewater Office Park, with some remnants of the Moby Dick ride still visible near its pond. The #5 steam locomotive from Pleasure Island now operates as #10 at the Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway Museum in Alna, Maine.[3]

As of December 2022, the Moby Dick animatronic remains submerged within its pond tracks but is reported to be in reasonable condition.[6]

Attractions

  • Animal Land
  • Barn & Slide
  • Burro Trail
  • Camera Shop
  • Carousel
  • Chisolm Trail
  • Chowder House
  • Christmas Wonderland
  • Country Store
  • Covered Wagon
  • Dagett Chocolate Company's "Handspun" Shop
  • Engine City
  • Friend's Baked Beanery
  • Front Gate
  • Goldpan Gulch & Gold Panning Operation
  • Golf (18-hole mini-golf added 1967)
  • Helicopter Ride
  • Heritage Museum
  • Hood's Gay Nineties Ice Cream Parlor
  • Horseless Carriage Ride originally "Jenney"
  • Indian Village
  • Kartland
  • Lighthouse
  • MagicLand: Crooked House - Slanted Shanty - Magnetic House - Captain's House
  • Moby Dick Hunt
  • Merchants National Bank
  • Monkey Island
  • Pavilion
  • Pepperidge Farm Bakery
  • Picnic Area
  • Kaptain Kidd's Pirate Cove
  • Pirate Ride
  • Quannapowitt Publishers Print Shop
  • Old Smokey Railroad Line
  • Railroad Station (former Greenwood Depot)
  • Roundabout
  • Saloon, originally Pepsi-Cola's Diamond Lil Show
  • Shooting Gallery
  • Shopping Lane
  • Showbowl
  • Space Rocket
  • Stagecoach Ride
  • Swift and Company's great meat market
  • Treasure Digging Island
  • United Nations Theatre
  • Water Buffalo Land & Sea Ride
  • Western City
  • Wreck of the Hesperus

Pop culture

Portions of the 1968 film Charly were shot on location at Pleasure Island.

The attraction known as "Wreck of the Hesperus" drew its inspiration from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem titled The Wreck of the Hesperus.

Although the road itself has mostly vanished, Massachusetts Route 128 continues to display signs for “Pleasure Island Road” near the Salem Street exit. These markers are preserved by MassDOT to honor the park's historical importance in the region.

See also

External links

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named BHA
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named 2001_IRGTE
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named friendsofpleasureisland
  4. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named attractions
  5. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named jinglebelle
  6. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named youtube

Related profiles

RRiverside Amusement Park (Indianapolis)PPacific Ocean ParkFFort DevensWWhite City (Shrewsbury, Massachusetts)
Retrieved from "https://www.alfawiki.org/index.php?title=Pleasure_Island_(Massachusetts_amusement_park)&oldid=91913"