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Of
the great Massachusetts seaside amusement resorts which included
Revere Beach and Nantasket Beach, Salisbury Beach is the lone
survivor. Overlooking the northern shoreline near the New
Hampshire border, it continues to draw visitors seeking fun,
food and games from the upper New England states . Where once
it boasted several independent amusement ride parks, it has
gradually shifted its emphasis from rides to food and entertainment.
It is also a game-lover's paradise with a wide variety of
game and pinball machines filling several large arcades. Although
Shaheen's Fun-O-Rama park, the old carousels, the Comet coaster,
Dodgems, ferris wheels and many funhouses and dark rides have
disappeared over the years, Pirate's Fun Park remains as the
last purveyor of amusement rides for those who still yearn
for a thrill.
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Some
postcard views of Salisbury Beach over the years.
At left is an aerial view from the fifties.
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Right:
In the 20's, the original Wildcat coaster and
an early funhouse at right.
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Left:
The same view in the 40's with new PTC Comet
coaster and Dodgem. This became the site of
Pirate's Fun Park.
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Right:
View of game and food stands in the 50's. Large
clown sits atop the roof of a walk-through funhouse.
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A
kind of legend arose over the pirate-themed dark ride which
was installed as part of Roger Shaheen's Fun-O-Rama park in
Salisbury Beach, situated just outside the park's border, directly
across from their Witch
Castle dark ride. The Pirate ride was reputed to have been
removed and sold to Mountain Park, Holyoke, MA, in the mid to
late 1970s where it operated until that park's final season
in 1987. The ride was then disassembled
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and sold to Pirate's Fun Park located at Salisbury Beach.
If true, it would be a very unusual round-trip for a
dark ride to take, especially one themed on the outside
as a ship.
At
left: A very rare view of Shaheen's Pirate ride. The
ship is facing toward the right. At the right end directly
under the mermaid, it bears the name: "Jolly
Roger".
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At
right is a view of the Pirate's Den at Mountain Park.
This, as they say, is where the plot thickens. A close
examination of the Shaheen ride at Salisbury (above)
reveals the name to be "Pirate's Cove",
and the ship is facing toward the right. In Mountain
Park, it's named "Pirate's Den" and the
ship if facing to the left.
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All
three of the rides use the late model Pretzel car
system. But, although the cars run right-to-left in
traditional fashion in the Mountain Park and Pirate's
Park rides, the Shaheen ride is running in a left-to-right
direction, rare for Pretzel setups. At left, the Pirate's
Den in Pirate's Fun Park in Salisbury. The ship is
facing left as was Mountain Park's, but its width
appears to have been cut down, perhaps to fit the
smaller frontage.
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The large Pirate's head was a fixture on the Mountain
Park rides as well as a Pirate's Den ride that was located
at Lincoln Park in North Dartmouth, MA. These heads
are very likely the work of the late Domenic Spadola,
an amusement park artist who worked extensively throughout
New England amusement parks for many years. When Pirate's
Fun Park rethemed its Pirate ride, the head was placed
atop another building at the center of the park.
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The
fact that the original Shaheen ride's ship exterior was facing
to the right and that its car/track system was set up to run
left to right makes it very unlikely that it is the ride which
went to Mountain Park and later returned to Salisbury at Pirate's
Fun Park. The Pirate's Cove name is another difference.
The Pirate dark rides were a uniquely New England amusement
phenomenon. Another was located at Whalom Park in Lunenberg,
MA. That ride burned down back when the park was still in
operation. The previously mentioned ride at Lincoln Park had
a boat-styled car system probably obtained from the "Wreck
of the Herperus" ride at Pleasure Island in Wakefield,
MA after that park closed. The rides may have been built with
an eye toward the New England shipping and whaling heritage
as well as an attempt to emulate the very popular Disney 'Pirates
of the Caribbean' ride, but on a more modest scale and budget.
Of
all the Pirate rides that operated at these New England parks,
the Pirate's Den in Pirate's Fun Park was the last. And that
last Pirate would soon sail off into the sunset.
Change was in the wind, and in 1999, the Pirates had left
port to be replaced by something darker and much more sinister......
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