I love amusement parks. I don’t like amusement rides. Never did. I just don’t see the point of purposely making myself nauseated or dizzy. I don’t enjoy the sensation of my stomach migrating north. I prefer it where it is, thank you very much.
But I do love the colors, the smells, the excitement of amusement parks and county fairs. I can spend hours wandering the midway, eating funnel cake and futilely tossing darts at balloons. When I do go on a ride, it’s usually the bumper cars or merry-go-round. I can also stomach the kiddie rides. Most of them.
All this leads me to our article by Mary K. Zajac about historic amusement parks on the Chesapeake Bay. Now these were the kinds of parks I could appreciate! They were civilized resorts with grand hotels, dance halls, roller skating rinks, bowling alleys, and movie theaters. They had live alligators at Mago Vista in Anne Arundel County. At Tolchester Beach, ladies could have afternoon tea—in the carpeted carcass of a whale! If you got hot, you went for a swim in the Bay. Who needs
a nauseating log flume?
Traveling to a park on the Eastern Shore was an adventure in itself. Forget about dealing with traffic—you took a steamer across the Bay. To reach Chesapeake Beach in Calvert County, you boarded a special train. How cool is that?
Oh, sure, they had rides: Ferris wheels, beautiful merry-go-rounds, rickety wooden roller coasters. (The one at Mago Vista even traveled 120 feet over the Magothy River.) There were “thrill” rides with names like The Whip or Racer Dip, miniature steam trains, and carts led by ponies or goats.
Tens of thousands visited these parks every summer weekend, which makes it so incredible that virtually nothing remains of any of them. Throughout the years, all were done in by a host of misfortunes from the construction of the Bay Bridge and failure of the steamship lines to natural or man-made disasters to the rise of Ocean City. You’d think at least one bayside amusement park could make a comeback today. Doesn’t anybody appreciate a good ride on goat-drawn cart anymore?
You’ll notice the water theme runs throughout this issue. From bayside amusements, we travel to Calvert County’s beautiful waterside nature parks to a lighthouse tour with Tilghman Island boat captain Mike Richards. In “Ups & Downs” writer Steve Bailey shadows a tender at Knapps Narrows, home of the busiest drawbridge in the United States. Who knew?
I hope you enjoy this issue. And if I see you at an amusement park this summer, I’ll be happy to join you on the bumper cars.
Until September,
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Masthead Photo by