Glen Echo Park

Glen Echo Park in Glen Echo, Maryland outside of Washington D.C. is a must-visit for fans of amusement park history. It's preserved by the National Park Service and only home to one surviving ride, but I can't think of any other park with as many layers of history as Glen Echo. It began as a National Chautauqua Assembly in 1891, with distinctive stone architecture and many lecture halls. This was not particularly successful, so by 1911 the Chautauqua had been transformed into an amusement park. After decades of operation, Glen Echo was a hotspot for the Civil Rights Movement in 1961, and the park eventually closed in 1968. It was reestablished as an art center beginning in the 1970s, with the old park buildings being restored. Today, it's a fascinating place.

Oh, and the park grounds sit next to a former home of Red Cross founder Clara Barton. There's an interesting story where a one-time owner of the park wanted to acquire Barton's land, so he built a roller coaster called the Dip right in her front yard in hopes of forcing her off the property. 

When that didn't work, he built a Ferris wheel too. Barton remained unshakable.

Like countless other early amusement parks, people came to Glen Echo on the trolley. This preserved trolley trestle sits abandoned in the woods next to the bridge that takes you into the park grounds. In the park's heyday, the Coaster Dips and the Derby Racer both plummeted into this ravine, crossing the creek twice for an added thrill.

The colorful carousel building comes into view after you cross the bridge. The ride and domed building were built in 1921 by William Dentzel, and it is absolutely one of the best carousels in the country.

You can pay $2.00 for one ride or $5.00 for an all-day pass. There is something special about the sound of a band organ drifting through a quiet park.

The carousel has one of the most beautiful restoration jobs I've seen on a ride, and this horse mostly features 100+ year old original paint, which explains why it is not rideable.

The horses that don't have original paint still feature the original colors.

The star of the show is this Wurlitzer 165 band organ, which echoes wonderfully throughout the wooden building.

The park has no shortage of music for the organ. Some of these rolls are likely almost a century old.

I always take delight in carousel building architecture. The Glen Echo carousel appears to have half the number of light bulbs on its sweeps compared to other Dentzel carousels. Kennywood's, for example, has bulbs that fill in the gaps seen here.

 I'll let the plaque explain the role the ride played in the Civil Rights Movement. When you know the important history behind a ride like this, it makes it all the more special to experience.

There's more than just the carousel here, like this vintage concession stand. I would love to see the park after dark with its abundance of neon.

The building at left is the last vestige of the old Chautauqua days at the park. I love how it runs right into this neon-rimmed canopy, representing two eras in the park's history.

The carousel is wonderful, but the park's Streamline Moderne entrance is also a sight to behold. I would have loved to have lived in an era where fantastical amusement park architecture like this was the norm—imagine rolling up to the park in a trolley after dark and walking under this archway blazing with neon.

I dig these cut-throughs in the bottoms of the marquee supports. They don't have to be there, but they add to the charm.

Some of the trolley tracks remain, and occasionally a replica trolley is parked in front of the entrance.

The streamlined architecture continues along the former main midway. Once home to games and concessions, it's now home to cultural institutions including a conservatory of music.

The vintage Cuddle Up pavilion is all types of amazing, from the rounded canopy to the neon sign and perfectly integrated ticket booth. I couldn't help but think how the distinctive rumbling of a Cuddle Up would have mixed with the carousel organ across the midway.

The whimsical paint job on the carousel roof was added in the mid-century, then painted over after the park closed. It was restored when the park was acquired by the National Park Service, and they deserve great credit for maintaining such an intricate design.

The bumper car building is another delight. Now used as a pavilion, the interior contains many spindly trusses from which the metal ceiling used to hang.

The Spanish Ballroom was also restored when the NPS took control. I'd love to see the interior.

The First Aid depot is quite quaint. If I could live in this building, I would.

The final touch of Art Deco in the park is the Crystal Pool entrance. It's just a facade, as the pool that once sat behind was perched on the edge of the ravine.

Again, I will have to come back to this park when it's dark to see the lights!

Along the midway sits an untouched shooting gallery behind a glass window, though it appears to also be used as storage for maintenance. Knoebels is the last park I know of that still operates a real shooting gallery like this one.

Glen Echo clearly doesn't bring in the crowds anymore with its only attractions being a carousel and the history, but it's pleasant walking around the park with the carousel happily spinning in the center.

Here's a short video of the carousel spinning to the tune of "A Whale of a Tale" from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

Before we go, let's take one last ride on the carousel. The lion is the trademark of Dentzel, and this one glows.

I chose the deer for my final ride. It's a nice change of pace to ride the stationary animals or the chariots every once in a while.

If only all carousels could be maintained as well as this one!

See, I wasn't the only person at the park! Here we see two ghosts that have been waiting for candy apples since 1968.

With that, we say goodbye to what could be called a museum of amusement park history. I enjoyed my first visit to Glen Echo Park immensely, and I look forward to returning in the future.

Sylvan Beach Amusement Park - 2024 visit

We've been here before on Bayern Kurve Blog, but this summer I returned to one of my favorite time capsules, Sylvan Beach Amusement Park on Oneida Lake in Upstate New York. Since my last visit, the park has refurbished several of its rides with new paint jobs, and I am thankful this park has an owner who truly cares about it. However, paint is pretty much the only thing that changes at Sylvan Beach. The park is perfect as is, a delightful collection of vintage rides that reminds visitors of a time when similar lakeside amusement parks dotted the country.

I adore vintage kiddie rides (I'm weird, I know), and Sylvan Beach has a wonderful collection. Take the kiddie Ferris wheel, which is cable-driven and much taller than other rides of its type. 

The kiddieland includes a rare Allan Herschell tank ride. The park also has the more common Herschell kiddie sky fighter, which uses the same guns. I don't think they work here anymore, but the guns originally made a loud mechanical clicking sound.

One ride at the park that is virtually unheard of today is the Rotor, but the Sylvan Beach model is currently standing but not operating. I was fortunate enough to experience it in 2017, and sticking to the wall when the floor dropped was quite the sensation!

Just like the rides, the arcades at Sylvan Beach are stuck in time. I love the vintage signage for these poker machines ("three in a line" references different nearby machines).

There is no shortage of skee ball here, and next to the Playland arcade is another sought-after game once common in old amusement parks.

It's Fascination! But here we break for vintage neon.

The premise of Fascination is simple (roll the ball and light five in a row), but it's addictive and a great way to spend a quarter... or several quarters! 

I could really appreciate the vintage look of this room, with the tile flooring, classic announcer booth, and the rounded glass counter that I'm sure once held all manner of wonderful prizes.

It can't be easy to keep a fleet of vintage arcade games like this in operating condition, so props to the park for keeping them going.

There's also an old shooting gallery at the park. The guns use light beams, so if you take a flash picture, every target goes off at once. It's kind of ridiculous and hilarious. Watch the video above at your own risk.

Of course, the main reason I came to Sylvan Beach is for the vintage dark ride, Laffland. This 1954 dark ride represents an era in dark ride history that is not preserved anywhere else. For one, it's the last ride of hundreds built by the Pretzel Amusement Ride Co. to still feature its trademark cars with yellow Pretzel counterweights. And it's kept in absolutely impeccable condition.

There's no line, so you know that I am about to take more than one ride on this one-of-a-kind classic. With an unmistakable electric humming and clicking sound, the car lurches around the corner and bangs through the first set of doors into the ride.

I believe this "Ride and Laugh" window was originally used for a Laffing Sal or other ballyhoo-type figure.

You can't see this in the darkness of the interior, but a few cars are stored inside the ride as spares. Watch out for the skeleton coming up on the right! He begins to move as a loud bell goes off before you crash through a brick wall.

The devil figure on the left isn't even animated with electricity; the car simply rolls over a lever that mechanically pops the figure up into the air. This is the grandfather of the Haunted Mansion's pop-up ghosts.

The alligator in a barrel is also operated with the motion of the car. These stunts have seen a lot, and that's what makes them special.

I don't know if this Himalaya ride came from another park, but it runs pretty fast for a ride of its type.

The paint scheme on this old arcade typifies what I love about vintage parks. There's just something about these old-fashioned colors on an old building, sagging with age, that is so charming and wonderful.

This arcade, one of three in the park, features a classic fortune teller. Who knows, this could be from the 1950s, 40s, or earlier.

Here's a video of it in motion.

I love the aged look of this machine. You can either appreciate stuff like this for what it is, or you see it as old and in need of updating. It's not a secret which group I belong to! If you insert a dime (yes, a dime!) a light comes on displaying a picture of conjoined twins with a caption of "the miracle of birth." The finest entertainment of the 1940s.

Who knows how longs this neon sign has been hanging here....

Vintage coin-operated kiddie rides look out to the Kiddieland area.

Ok, this will be our last detour into the world of vintage arcades in this post.

I have a hard time believing there is a better way to spend ten cents on the Earth (it just vibrates your feet like crazy). I can confidently say all the listed adjectives are very true.

Before we leave, a few more rides on Laffland are in order. The clown with a cigarette dangling out of his mouth should be warning enough that smoking is strictly forbidden.

This facade after dark is simply the best.

I always appreciate every minute of my visits to parks such as these, knowing that there very well might not be a "next time."

As we make our way back to the car, the vintage Roll-O-Plane is silhouetted against a darkening sky. I hope you enjoyed this look at one of the most untouched time capsules of amusement park history left in the nation!