A little church in the Wild West Part.
Nancy, Enid and Sue.
There was a photo somewhere I think of us in the tiny little school house there. You had to duck down to get inside of it.
Besides story town and the Wild West, there was Jungle Land, and a train ride that took you through what was supposed to be the mine the seven dwarfs worked in. There were sparkly lights to be pretend diamonds and even one place painted to look like the mother lode of gold. I don't remember in the fairy tale if it was supposed to be a gold mine or a diamond mine but Charlie Woods didn't care as long as the kids loved it. He was a very crafty man who made a lot of money in his life but he did like kids. Before he died he set up a foundation to bring cheer to kids who were in peril, mostly cancer victims but other ailments as well.
Sue, Enid and Nancy in the school house. Nancy looks impressed... OK, maybe not too impressed.
There were a lot of rides for kids and adults to go on. One was the swan boat ride that usually were "manned" by young, pretty girls in skimpy shorts. They loaded the boats and directed them up the river Dee and back town, cautioning us all the time to not let our fingers get in the water. Some kids thought things would bite them but I think it was just to protect the park. There were a lot of nasty germs in there I'm sure. I could see candy wrappers and soda pop cans in there. Also at times you could see fish or turtles or ducks and geese waddling along the banks.
There was a bridge you went under. Supposedly the three billy goats gruff lived there. I recall at one time the bridge itself was fenced off and there were real goats placed there in the daytime.
In later years they added a lot more rides up on the hill beyond there including a roller coaster. Then if they still had the goats they housed them in other places. Last time I went there the bridge was much bigger and wider and led up to a huge picnic area of Alice in wonderland with giant playing cards and also to the ride area.
One ride I liked was like a ski lift. It scared me at first but I got used to it. In one place your feet touched the tops of the pines. It was said that he bought the ride from another park out in California. If I looked down I'd get sick but otherwise it was fun.
Jungleland had sections of a wooden walkway with ropes to keep you on it. We loved this too. At one point in the walk when you stepped on a section it would move from side to side and press a lever under water that made a hippo pop up out of the murky depths with his big mouth open. Later they put in another rope bridge that was real scary to me. It didn't have wood to walk on, just the ropes.
The bears that Dad loved. You'll see these and some of the other photos repeated in other places. It was intentional.
I think I took this much later in life, maybe when we took my son Tom there when he was little. There was a sign on this at the Wild West part calling it a "camper".
We took Millie's daughter Cathy to the Magic Forest where she danced with the Indians.
I think we were still living in Kingsbury at the time.
I'll add more here when I get all my color photos back from the printers.
Mom with baby Bob.
Mom with baby Leo