Savin Rock Amusement Park

The amusement park was established in the 1870s after entrepreneur George Kelsey extended the trolley lines[1] and built a 1,500-foot pier at the end of Beach Street to accommodate a ferry service.

[2] A beachside resort grew around the hotel and pier, including a bandstand, a fountain, an observatory, a wooded area for picnics, and a carousel which was revolved first by manpower and later by a horse on a treadmill.

[2] In 1903 carnival rides were added and the area was officially opened as an amusement park called the White City with an entrance at the corner of Savin Avenue and Thomas Street.

[3] At its peak, “The Rock” took in a mile-long midway, with roller coasters, water chutes and carousel rides,[1][4] There were bumper cars, fun houses, concerts and marathon dances.

Visitors could enjoy shore dinners with frozen custard or split hot dogs,[5] drink "honeydew," munch on popcorn, and consult mechanical fortune tellers or The Laughing Lady.

A Death Valley patented PTC funhouse was built on Beach Street, however its skull and cross bone façade was replaced with a Laffing Sal.

[13] In Eleanor Estes's 1943 children's novel Rufus M., the chapter "The Flying Horse Named Jimmy" takes place at a fictionalized version of the park during the World War I era.

[14] Savin Park also is the setting for chapter 4 of Stephen King's novella "Low Men in Yellow Coats", which appears in the 1999 collection "Hearts in Atlantis," and is mentioned in his short story "The Boogeyman.