Kathryn Burke
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.
