• Sections
    • Arts & Entertainment
    • Bridal
    • Community
    • Education
    • Fashion
    • Food & Drink
    • Health & Wellness
    • Home & Garden
    • MVMA
    • Perspectives
    • Travel
  • Shop Local
    • Arts & Culture
    • Bridal
    • Community
    • Dining & Cuisine
    • Education
    • Entertainment
    • Fashion
    • Financial & Professional Services
    • Florists, Gift & Specialty Shops
    • Health & Wellness
    • Home & Garden
    • Real Estate
  • Calendar
  • Dining Guide
  • Podcasts
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • Login

Merrimack Valley Magazine

  • Arts & Entertainment
  • Community
  • Education
  • Fashion
  • Food & Drink
  • Health & Wellness
  • Home & Garden
  • Perspectives
  • Travel
← Back

Little Bitz – Adventureland Memories

Suzanne DeWitt
Published July 10, 2017
Share:

Adventureland in Newbury opened the summer of 1957. A map of the amusement park shows its position on the corner of U.S. Route 1 and Scotland Road, and describes it as “America’s Most Fabulous Family Entertainment: An occasion the whole family will remember happily ever after.”

Visitors entered through a Story Book Castle and walked straight ahead to a magic fountain on the Village Green. Snacks were sold from a gingerbread house. Half of the park was called Dodge City and had a Western theme, featuring a root beer saloon, stables and shoot-‘em-up shows with traditional bank robberies, horses and cowboy hats. People still reminisce about being so scared that they cried during the stagecoach robbery, thinking it was real.

The other half of the park was called Story Land, and included installations based on fairy tales and nursery rhymes. There was a giant pumpkin for “Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater,” a cabin for “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” and the giant from “Jack and the Beanstalk” reclined on the ground. There was a house for the “Three Little Pigs,” an enormous  boot for the “Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe,” and the very “House that Jack Built.”

The park didn’t last long. It closed by the mid-1960s, but memories of the place are alive and well. Former employees recount stories of tipped-over stagecoaches, escaped monkeys and visits from The Kingston Trio.

The three-masted pirate ship that acted as the park’s billboard on Interstate 95 burned down in 1966, and the remaining buildings eventually were torn down to make way for the Massachusetts State Police barracks that are now in place. A wall outside the commander’s office there has been designated for the placement of Adventureland memorabilia, and donations to the collection are welcomed.

Photo courtesy George Travis.

 

 

Share:
Related Articles
The 495 – This Week’s Episode – Richard Ravin
Travel Advisory – Get Away Close to Home
The Big Bang
Follow the Yellow Brick Road

Current Issue

Subscribe

Who We Are

mvm is the region’s premiere source of information about regional arts, culture and entertainment; food, dining and drink; community happenings, history and the people who live, work, play and make our area great.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Sections

  • Arts & Entertainment
  • Bridal
  • Community
  • Education
  • Fashion
  • Food & Drink
  • Health & Wellness
  • Home & Garden
  • MVMA
  • Perspectives
  • Travel

Links

  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • About Us
  • Regular Contributors
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Contact

© Copyright 2021 Merrimack Valley Media Group Inc. All rights reserved.

Orangetheory Fitness Chelmsford @DrumHill / (978) 577-5901

Orangetheory Fitness Methuen @The Loop / (978) 620-5850

Orangetheory Fitness Chelmsford @DrumHill / (978) 577-5901

Orangetheory Fitness Methuen @The Loop / (978) 620-5850

*Valid on new memberships during the month of September 2020.

 

Newsletter Signup

MERRIMACK VALLEY TODAY: Noteworthy. Local. News. (Launching May 2021)
Wellness Wednesdays
Eight Great Things To Do This Weekend (Thursdays)
NoteWorthy - Happenings, Movers & Shakers (Sundays)

Orangetheory Methuen is celebrating it’s one year anniversary with an
Open House, Saturday June 22 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Join your friends and neighbors to learn more about the fastest growing workout sensation in the nation. Tour the studio. Meet the coaches. Enter to win a 10 pack of classes. The first 20 people who sign up for a free class at the event will receive a free bonus class, no obligation. 

Click here to learn more! 

Click here to schedule your FREE CLASS in Chelmsford @DrumHill / (978) 577-5901
Click here to schedule your FREE CLASS in Methuen @The Loop / (978) 620-5850

*Free Class for first-time visitors and local residents only.