Lucius Beebe Memorial Library, Wakefield, Mass.

Title

Building of Clipper Cove, Pleasure Island :June 5, 1959

Description

According to the photo caption on the back of the photo, "PIRATE HIDEOUT - Shipfitters set the rigging on a pair of pirate boats moored to the wharf on the shore of Pleasure Island's currently calm inland sea." The photo was taken just weeks before the June 22nd public opening of the park. The designers and construction crews were able to turn swampland into the Disney of the East in less than one year, starting earth-moving operations in the Fall of 1958, working through a New England winter and above average rainfall amounts during the 1959 spring and summer. This photo shows portions of the park's main themed areas, Clipper Cove, on the left, and the Western section called Goldpan Gulch, above right. Clipper Cove was designed to represent a New England seaport from the mid-1800s. It incorporated the Pirate Cove and Moby Dick attractions as well as the Wreck of the Hesperus dark ride. The Western section featured the narrow-gauge steam train "Old Smokey" and the Goldpan Gulch Station, the Diamond Lil Saloon, Quannapowitt Publishers Print Shop, the Chisholm Trail dark ride, and an 1800s and Contemporary Hotel exhibit by Hotel Corporation of America. At the top of Clipper Cove (left to right) is the Hotel Exhibit, the dark ride, Print Shop, and Saloon. Facing Clipper Cove at the rear of the Hotel Exhibit was the Sheriff's Office and Jail. Across from this complex was the popular Tilt House, often referred to as the Slanty Shanty. On the left beyond the launch platform for the Pirate Cove attraction was Cap'n Snow's Chowder House, which was still under construction. Several other attractions also opened in the park's first season, some survived for the entire 11 seasons while others were either added or removed, including the park's shops and dining facilities. This year also marks the 50th anniversary of Pleasure Island's 11th and final season. Wakefield hosted the second of three theme parks built across America after Disneyland and although long gone, Edgewater Office Park maintains much of the past landscape and water features enjoyed by the millions of former guests, young and old.

Image from the Wakefield Municipal Gas and Light Department annual calendar, 2019

Photo courtesy of Bob McLaughlin - Friends of Pleasure Island.

Contributor

Institution: Lucius Beebe Memorial Library

Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department (Wakefield, Mass.)

D'Onofrio, Jayne M.

Coverage

Massachusetts--Middlesex (county)--Wakefield

Date

06-05-1959

Format

image/jpeg

Language

eng

Publisher

Wakefield, Mass. : Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department

Subject

Amusement parks

Pleasure Island

Type

still image

Photographs

Original Format

1 picture :black & white

Extent

25 x 21 cm.