As a local, one of my favorite places to visit in the summer was
Enchanted Forest Water Safari. Our discussion about the rise in tourism in the
part in the 1900s to the 1950s got me thinking about the history of the famous
water park. As it turns out, Enchanted Forest Water Safari was originally the
Enchanted Forest of the Adirondacks and it was built in 1856, presumably to
accommodate the influx of families that would drive up to the Adirondacks for
the summer. Rides were not introduced to the park till the 1960s; originally
the park was a collection of large tents that housed children’s activities.
There was a train that would take families around the park from tent to tent in
order to enjoy activities like watercolor and woodworking. In the early 1970s,
the park added a circus that performed daily. In 1978, under new owners, the
park added a Ferris wheel and some other motorized attractions. Then in 1984
the first water slide, Wild Waters, was constructed; Wild Waters was a 350ft, two-flume
water slide. From the 1980s till present, Enchanted Forest Water Safari has
constructed countless dry and wet attractions. The park now has 32 water rides
and over 25 dry attractions, making it the largest water park in New York
State.
Sources:
Noonan, Katie. An Enchanted Tale--The History of Old Forge Properties.
Rep. Museum of Enchanted Memories, 2008. Web.
11 Nov. 2014.
This is great, I had no idea this even existed. I'm not a huge roller coaster person, but I love water rides! Great topic, I'm definitely going to look more into this!
ReplyDeleteSo fun to read about the history of this! I'm from the area too and we continue going there to this day to take my little sister. Funny that the train still goes through the park!
ReplyDeleteWow, Cori, thanks so much for doing a little research on this! I'm actually surprised that the park was created so early -- in our class we discussed how tourism really had its beginnings in the mid-early 1900s (which you say in your blog post), so I'm wondering why the park was created... I wonder about the demographic of this "influx of families." Were they extremely wealthy, Great Campers?
ReplyDeleteThe fact that it began as a collection of tents is reminiscent of Great Camps as well.