'Playland' offers an inviting look at
the historic amusement park on the shore of the Long Island Sound in
Rye. This book recalls the early days and the later years of
Playland, a national historic landmark and America’s only publicly
owned amusement park. Opened in 1928 as part of the newly developed
Westchester County Park System, Playland originally drew crowds that
arrived via automobile, bus, and steamship for the circus acts,
sideshows, and rides, such as the Swooper, an oval roller coaster,
and the Derby Racer, one of only two left in the United States. An
all-purpose resort, the park included a beach, bathhouse, pool, and
casino with restaurants and games. Today the park draws even larger
crowds—nearly a million people each season—that come for the Dragon
Coaster and other rides, Kiddyland, the indoor ice rink, the pool,
the beach, and the boardwalk.
About the Author
Educator and author Kathryn W. Burke lives near Playland, and for
more than 30 years, she and her family have been frequent patrons of
the park. She also authored Hudson River Bridges with Arcadia
Publishing. Now she has selected, primarily from the Westchester
County Archives, some 200 spectacular images and has combined them
with delightful narrative to produce Playland, an unforgettable
experience of the region’s foremost amusement park. As Westchester
County executive and a former history teacher, Andrew J. Spano has
long been intrigued by Playland’s historical significance. He
visited the park as a child and, over the years, has returned again
and again with his own children and grandchildren.
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