Mountain Park was a fairly
large, local
amusement park in
Holyoke,
MA that was the site of quite a (now) famous
Merry-Go-Round. It's a place that holds a lot of memories. I spent my 8 and 10th
birthdays there, too scared to go on the old-fashioned
wooden roller-coaster they had there. I
remember how it all used to look, the sounds, the
merry-go-round, the booths, the setup, everything. Mountain park is on the otherside of
Mt. Tom, (which was up until recently) a local
skiing attraction.
The park eventually lost out and went under due to a
bigger park in the area,
Riverside (which in turn was bought out by
Six Flags). What the particularly eerie part is, most of the stuff from the amusement park is still there. The
old north gate, lies rusted and chained shut... the roads broken apart. The old coaster track is still standind, looking more
rickety than before.
Pieces of it break apart, and it is quite
dangerous to go there, but still the
mystery and
allure still draw me there, at least in spirit
They have taken most of the stuff down, and I haven't visited it's
grave in years. It still lies there as a part of
Holyoke's
history, and will remain a "
forbidden" hangout in the area for years to come. The
small-town atmosphere of that place, and many of its
ilk do not seem to be long for this
world.