Rocky point was a great place to work as a kid. Rock Point Park, a wonderful Victorian-era amusement park once located near Ellwood City, PA (about 45 miles north of Pittsburgh), has a very unusual history. It was like being in a movie and so surreal. When we got older into our teens and my sister got her license, we would go with our friends and then it was all about riding the rides and noticing BOYS! The salt water swimming pool, saw a man drown there once and I never went back. My name is Betty Morrow Crone and tears are welling in my eyes as i read the messages from others whose lives made a difference at Rocky Point Park in the 60s. People would get off the ride more soaked than the Flume and thought it was part of the ride. I worked at Rocky Point toward the end for 2 summers, (89-90) managing (haha, at 17) the cotton candy stand next to the house of horrors. I could net over $1000 a summer and URIs tuition was $565! Too bad I didnt have a camera back then. I grew up going to Rocky Point every summer since I was a small child and Im thrilled that I was able to have the opportunity to bring my only child there when he was very little. In fact while i was reading some of these letters that the people wrote i reconize some of the old timers . I went to Johnson & Wales College and every tri-mester we had a dance at the Rocky Point Palladium. Maybe about 4 years ago, my husband and I went to visit some friends who live not far from RP and I wanted to drive by to see what was left. Betty and Marys mother was Martha Hyatt, married to Harry Hyatt. The Skyliner gondola ride station nicolab (Atlas Obscura User) Remnants of the Rocky Point Amusement Park are still visible today. I read other peoples memories and I was so overcome with emotion and nostalgia that I couldnt stop crying. I met my wife-to-be, Diane, who worked with Mrs. Leake everybody called her Gram where you turned in the coupons you had won at Skeeball and other games for amazingly lousy prizes. The pigeons where a nuisance, they roosted on the rides by the hundreds. I hadnt thought much about Rocky Point since 1989, when I last worked there. Now that I look back on it she had to be in her 60s when she went on these rides, dang I miss her so much she was the coolest! Wed ride the Musik Express and be so happy when the DJ played a song we liked. I go bye the sign once a week im finally saying goodbye by taking a photo in front of the sign. In June of 1963 I visited with my then girl friend/now wife of 47 yrs on our first date, and many more times before moving out of state after getting married. When I saw your web site it made me both smile remembering the fun and sad that the park is no longer there. The entrance was almost completely overgrown and you couldnt see anything! I was too young at the time to be a ride operator. In 1959 I went to college at Southern Illinois University with a Jack McCabe, whose parents owned all or some of Rocky Point Park. Michigan's Adventure - Wikipedia Lately Ive come to love Disney World, but Rocky Point started it all for me. Mr Ferla also installed a small animal zoo within the park for a few years. And Rocky Point, with its two sandy beaches, not to mention salt water fishing, nature trails, rock climbing and open spaces for family sports, is precisely where this demand can be met. We would search the parking lot for admission bracelets and slip them on. Silver Dollar City's original Fire in the Hole opened in . I loved Rocky Point as a child but as an adult appreciated the public shoreline access even more. Working with me at the park was never a dull moment. Katie Landeck The Providence Journal At Rocky Point State Park, vestiges of an old. Amazing to read this- lots of memories! Sat, 19 Aug 2023 04:53:12 GMT (1692420792628) A few elements of the park remain, including the upper and lower stations for the Skyliner gondola ride, ruins of an old water tank, and a large arch by the entrance that was originally built for the 1964 Worlds Fair in Flushing, Queens, and subsequently moved to Rocky Point. My biggest memory, though, is the 4th of July that they burned all the old trolley cars in a giant bonfire. I had a terrible fire last January and lost my home, but there are many people, all of them there for generations who are being thrown out in October (complement of the SBA). My brother Garys first job was at the salt water pool. He was stationed at Davisville Naval Station and I was living with him in Wickford Rhode Island. My uncle and dad forced me to confront my fear and quit being such a chicken. Just as with many of you, my first summer job as a kid was there (at the Taffy Stand on the midway) . And to all of our friends that are still up there, Jim, Kathy, Jori, and Jon are all here in Charleston SC and doing fine. WOW! I heard today (10/10/2006) that the Cliff House burned down. I can still remember all the dogs names after 32 years! Coordinates: 43.34740N 86.27890W Michigan's Adventure is a 250-acre (1.0 km 2) amusement park in Muskegon County, Michigan, about halfway between Muskegon and Whitehall. that was great. "It's similar to the comic in that it follows the storyline; it uses the idea of a curse at . A car slowly drove by us and someone yelled out Go ahead go inside its ok. Thank you to the people who put this site together. Seeing as i lived on Palmer ave till i left home at the age of 20 to get married i had alot of time in Rocky Point. I have documentary proof. Know as the "duke of apex "an my buddy mondo mike classic car show. As I was running the House of Horrors, there was a 8-track tape that we would play in a loop all day and night. the reason i could go 100 is they shut the ride down. Oh! I will be bringing my 9-year old Great-niece to Rhode Island for 4th of July this year (2006), and how I wish it were still there to capture yet another generations photo in the old horse and buggy. The box that collected dimes was beneath the lever you pulled to release a vertical stop that allowed the 9 balls to come down. Like John Barchis comments. Mrs Woods would save the big mustard and ketchup containers for us that were then filled with water. Rocky Point State Park | Rhode Island State Parks Rocky Point Clam Shack in Warwick shuts doors after firm - WJAR Then there was the times that his brother Conrad would drive thru the pakk with his big RED caddy and that plate will always be in my mind. I remember Rocky Point in the 1950s. What a fun time back in the 30s. Rocky Point Amusement Park had an amazing history and an impact on so many! I was afraid of the rollercoaster, but loved the merry-go-round. Ive not been back since it was closed. Ill never forget as we left one night, my Dad complaining: That evening cost us $22! Guess they got us on the food! I was employed by Rocky Point as a year round empoyee and have some fond memories as well as having met my wife while we both worked for the park. Rest in peace Rocky Point Park! The seat belts didnt work properly on the ride, and I almost fell out. When I got my drivers license, my friend and I would go every Fri, and Sat night! Loved this park!!! I ended up spending the summer working with a lot of others from England, France, and various other European countries (Hannah, Sarah, Berengere, Dave, Paul, Mark). My father would drive from his work in Walpole Mass. This page is to get Rocky Point Amusement Park back! Rocky Point.. Who could ever forget that place? Goodbye Rocky Point Park you will truly be missed. what a shame. My family lived in the house right outside the front gate of Rocky Point Park from about 1952 to 1963 when our landlord sold the house. All of my friends and both of my sisters worked there too. I took the 1977 season off due to a better offer from another job but in 1978 I was right back there operating the "ROUNDUP" and the "ROCK AND ROLL" rides but a lot of us could see the writing on the wall as often we would go hours between riders and even the game operaters noticed a decline in buisness even on traditionaly busy friday nights and weekends. I sure miss you Rocky Point. Percy Lewis owned it. Reliving these memories is both exhilaratingly wonderful and terribly heartbreaking. Fun times sad its no longer there. Everybody was part of the big familiy.esp in the kitchen where Big John ran most things and Old Manny made the chower every day what a process that was. Come with your friends. 33 reviews of Rocky Point Walking Path "A new beginning Rocky Point Amusement Park was once the largest attraction in Rocky Island and one of the most popular amusement parks in the whole country. I chucked under my breath a bit because I was that kid he was refering about. I remember some friends at mine in high school talking about a band they saw at Rocky Point called The Pixiesand I remember thinking What a lame name. To add to the embarrassment, the bands I remember seeing there were Dread Zeppelin and Weird Al Yankovic. I took several pics, a chunk of painted cinderblock, shed a few tears and was on my way.. Ill post some pics in the very near future. This is truly sad and will be missed. I knew what I had, as soon as I got home I popped it in my old 8-track player and remember exactly what I remember hearing back when I was 4 or 5. Long live Oakland Beach! Anyhow, it was a memorable time of my youth that is a shame others will never be able to experiance with the final destruction of this once great place. My granfather help build the original buildings in the 20s and 30s. RP just wouldnt work if it were reopened today. I wonder what would happen if we parked the car and went in. Ride all the rides $1 6 p.m. to closing. Even my cheap old man knew a bargin when he saw one. Thats 20,000 games or 1000 games per machine. And the clam cakes and chowda Im drooling just thinking about them. Oh the joy of it all! oh my just found this I worked the pallidum, windjammer as a waitress for agnes dion and conrad jr and sr. always rember conrad yelling movea your asss. I would practically beg, plead, and most often cry when my brother and I wanted to go there as kids. then LT. Jim Godbout from the Warwick PD. I used to frequent the saltwater pool as a kid in the early seventies with some friends during school summer vacation. The best I have ever had. I brought everyone of my dates to the park, during the day and night. I also remember the salt water pool with the high diving platforms. Rock Point Park - Visit Lawrence County, Pennsylvania my first kiss ever was in the haunted house! As a matter of fact it was in our back yard! I took it upon myself to finally ride some of the rides I hadnt had the courage to ride earlier (though I never did ride the Free Fall). 1910 Story Contents Main Text Images (6) Location Metadata Top Rocky Point Park is still on many Rhode Islanders' minds. When i was a young boy, maybe about 8, my family all went there with my grand parents. I worked in every stand.i miss rocky point i wish t was still there to show my kids.And hi to steven Chagnon its been a long time my sister also worked there to with me wendy mcgowan. I can remember one day diving under the dock for little necks. We would go at least once a year and one year we went 3 times! What I loved most was the natural beauty of all the land there. Why ?? I could go on and on about my Rocky Point memories, but it would take hours! :(. But no matter. So many memories my father worked for rowe and his office was in Electric Boat. Too bad people had to skimp on bracelets by sharing with friends. i remember when i was 3 years old my mother went to visit my godmother who at the time lived in the house behind the shore dinner hall. Unfortunately, no I did not. While there was no overtime, working 80 hours a week could bring a kid a fairly fat paycheck. feel free to send me a e-mail hello if you remmber me & my friends at the park. Probably from doing the rotas! My favorate game was always the BB Gun Range where you had to shoot out the star from the card. I need to correct some misinformation that i read in John Barcis message: My birth name is Betty Morrow (not Hyatt) Harry Hyatt was my step-father who was married to the late Martha Hyatt. Rocky Point Amusement Park - Wikipedia A Fortune for a 14 year old in 83 Great memories for me Conrad always patting me on the back. Well, that is because my mom signed an agreement that if I died on the ride or fell off it wasnt their fault and she couldnt sue them and that I always had to ride with an adult. It was my favorite scuzzy looking place! How we loved to ride the Flume only to scream if we got too wet or the water was too cold! But it was in 1983 that RP became an important summer ritual. Please send me an e-mail: blccrone [at] peoplepc.com, I was 17 years old when I visited Rocky Point for the first time. It was a place where everyone was happy. I have many stories about the park and would like to converse with other employees. rocky point is certainly a huge part of my family and im glad to live a couple blocks away from this city of fun by the sea. We started going to the beach in front of the salt water pool during April school vacation. We went for a fling on the Flume. Wow, its amazing Mark Thompson & Diane, James Little and Elizabeth ended up getting married! Let me give you a little info. Its so very sad they had to end a wonderful family park it was. The memories are so vividly written about by so many here on this site that its clear it was a very special place. Ask anyone who did patronize the Park between 1989-1995 and theyd tell you. Loved ya, Rocky Point. I loved Rocky Point and have the fondest memories of working there. May of you will remember SGT. It was terrible. I never looked at another amusment park the same again. My sister used to cry when I would make her ride the house of horrors with me . Remembering RI's amusement park Rocky Point: What was your favorite We always left with some money. John Ferla would walk around the park checking on us and every once in a while he would yell and say ( in italian accent) Fuster boy Fuster. If only I could travel int ime, to see those wonderful buildings and rides with new eyes, and appreciate the art form they were. I loved the House of Horrors, and we used to get out of the cars and walk around scaring people. The first time I went there, I blieve I was 4 or 5 years old. Wow, its so sad to see Rocky Point go. We could ride any ride we wanted for free because we were Jerrys kids. The pictures are so sad. Only locals might remember but there was a big white historic home on a small hill overlooking the sandy beach and our address was The Farm House, Rocky Beach Rd. I heard that gypsys wanted to buy my dad when he was a baby. The skydiver was fun too!!! I ate until my stomach hurt. I grew up going to rocky point and I am wondering if anyone knows if a band called pen cap chew played there in 88 or 89? I used to help but just by bringing the the things he needed . At the same time, you never knew what rides would be there from one year to the next. Id buy a little cellophane Kewpie doll on a stick, with feathers and sparkles, or a colorful paper parasol. Rocky Point - rirocks.net A.I.R. Very macabre like, but very indulging at the same time :). In my eyes I was Rocky Points favorite little girl that came to visit them. Im sad that I can never go back again. I remember visiting Rocky Point on Sundays. He took care of the arcade games. I was at the site the other day. I love that place so much. When I got older and drove myself again it was a fovorite place to go with my friends in tow. he wind nips at my cheeks as I tip my head back and look up at the metal structure before me. At first, I thought The PALLADIUM??? Some of us even wish we could rebuild the park. Rhode Island Theme Parks and Water Parks - TripSavvy The Shore Dinner Hall, famous for its clamcakes, steamers, lobsters, and New England clam chowder, seated over 4,000 patrons at a time. It used to be independently owned, but sold out to Six Flags a few years ago. And I could not resist. It was the 8-Track tape for the old FunHouse. Josiah Search for Rocky Point. just some actually. You can always remember the smell of all the clamcakes and chowder.. and you cant forget the sweet smell of cotten candy.. You can always remember every year when school got out that soon you would be there.. looking out your car window for that famous sign saying in big letters ROCKY POINT.. then your heart would beat faster because of the antisipation of running to that first ride So many happy memories.. not enough time wish someone had reopened for all the new generation to see what a great place it really was. When I saw the sign in disrepair and looking so, I dont know, ignored and unloved (crazy, I know, but thats what it looked like), I burst into tears. It was worse at the Break-a-Plate break, chip or crack any two plates with one 50-cent baseball throw because of all the dust. My Dad worked for Electric Boat and they would have their Annual Celebration there. The night we all would close down our rides and head to oakland beach . I was 14 working in the shore dinner hall, started with dishes and wound up doing just about any thjing else they wanted you to do. The smell would waft through the park and people would come running to the stand. That was a great day. Everyone who knew my dad LOVED him as his family did. Can anyone direct me to where i would be able to find the recipes for the mouth watering clam cakes???????????????? John handled all of the parks maintenance issues. it didnt get better. It was our summer reward for passing in school. just plain SAD. You dont really begin to treasure precious memories until you are older and more mature and have a broader, wiser perspective on things, and nostalgia sets in. We had a blast! Its really nice to be able to share all these feelings we all have about the park. So several times my parents, my three brothers and I would pile into the 63 Chevy and drive the 10 miles from East Greenwich. I never won, but it was awesome. My daughter was always a daredevil even at a young age and wanted to go on all the rides even though when she stood against the wooden cut-out of the boy who said, you must be as tall as me to ride, she didnt quite meet the requirement. Rocky Point Project - Facebook The concerts, I rember JANIS JOPLIN for free!! He sold the Spitfire and constructed the concrete Skee Ball building at the base of the hill across from the Penney Arcade. My great grandmother had a cottage at Rocky Beach and spent every summer there. just about every day it was open. Years later, when I was in high school, I worked for the towns recreation department, and the treat at the end of each summer was a bus ride with all the kids to spend the day at Rocky Point! You could smell the sea air up high in the sky. I have a picture of me and my dad at the Rocky Point Bar with hats on and holding up empty bottles of Falstaff. I was always scared to go in the Fun House. I am 17 now but, when I was younger Rocky Point was the place where my family and my God-Mothers family would go every year. Rocky Point Park has had 49 concerts. I still have the silverware and the plates from the old shore dinner hall. The Enterprise and the Musik Express were my two favorite rides. Conrad gave me my first job at the shore dinner hall in 79, washing dishes with big Jim Kelly, and learning to make clamcakes with Julio. Im so grateful the land was saved and has been returned to its natural beauty as a state park! I nearly lost my lunch! Growing up and going to Rocky Point pool in the summer was fantastic. We are losing Rocky Point, again. He was a good friend and brother-in -law. I was hoping to bring my kids and husband there. Now i have been married to the same guy for 35 yrs and we have 3 beautiful girls 2 of which are married. I remember going to the old shore dinner hall with my father. Yup, the WHOLE day, outside in the parking area, watching the rides. Truely a House of Horror. As a young girl in the sixties, I spent many a summer there. That ride was so much fun. On hot days you go on the flume just to cool off and get dry on the skyliner. In 1992 I believe the wife and i returned to Rhodes Island to look for her real mother (father had divorced at age 3 and lost all contact). Though there are many signs that summer is on its way, one of my favorites was the commercial jingle for Rocky Point. That place is another story. Hi, all, When I was a child we lived next to Rocky Point Park. I recall the managers name as Dave. (as he told me and a couple of other mutual friends). it was hard to fall asleep sometimes with those fans going over your head. I remember the first time i went to RP I was with hte Love of my life Betsy. It started spinning on the ground, and eventually would tilt completely vertical like a ferris wheel. I was shocked to find out I was the talk for the park for two consecutive years but did not know it. The Penny arcade is in the background. 58 images: Press to view larger or scroll sideways to see more. There were dress wrecking the windjammer and shore dinner hall. We could not it for the day that we would be old enough to work there. I remember sitting down at long, family-style tables eating those yummy clam concoctions with my parents. My sister got one to match. They used to have the show near the top of the midway where they would shoot a man out of a cannon to! This was a blast from the past for me whereas I worked at the Shore Dinner hall in High school around 79-80 or so. Eating in the Chowder House was like nothing Ive ever experenced before. and remmber that a car went off the track at one point. My grandfather, Antonio DeRosa, was the park caretaker when my mom was a kid. Eating clamcakes and chowder at the Shore Dinner Hall. Occassionally Rocky Point would have discount or 2 for 1 coupons in the newspaper so wed rush to the local market and buy as many papers as the family needed. These big parks today have none of the charm that Rocky Point had. I went there today on the walking trail not the same. Youve made 40 cents the previous 2 hours since opening.

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