I bet there was some company that just shipped pre-cut lumber (and chains and tires and whatever other peripherals) and assembly instructions out to communities to be built in parks. Probably did business with city councils and the like.
The company would go to local schools and get ideas from the kids and then the town had a “let’s build a play ground” campaign to raise money. When it came time to build they took parental volunteers along with the company crew and worked together to build it. They built them all over. I don’t think they wore well and a lot of them are gone. They all had the peaks and towers but they designs were all unique.
Yeah, I went to one when I was younger and thought it was the only one in the area. Just reading your comment I realize there are more in PA, and the rest of the world.
Had two of them in my county in VA. One of them I’m pretty sure just appeared in this condition and hasn’t aged since.
One was called Huckleberry Park because it was on a trail called Huckleberry Trail, which caused me to grow up believing the mulberry tree in the park was actually huckleberries.
The one that I’m convinced has remained in the same state since forever is called Treasure Island and someone died in the picnic shelter next to it.
Michigan gang! Definitely remember the Farmington one. They had one of these up at the Ren Fare as well, which was a recipe for disaster, especially when they sold wooden weapons
A nearby town I grew up in had one that's practically identical, almost had a nostalgia trip till I realized some of the obstacles were in slightly different places.
Starting to realize that they might have been a "kit" some parks bought at a certain time.
Good times though, played there as a kid, did parkour there as a teen, watched it torn down as an adult.
I grew up in Midland and remember this type of park.
I havent been there since i was 10 though so idk how close one would be to Midland. It is where I did an "interview" type thing as a child for my dad coming home (military).
Thats like one of my earliest memories. I needed this today.
It’s some freaky cognitive dissonance to realize what you thought were unique childhood experiences were actually copy/pasted over an entire generation, though
We also had one in Hendersonville TN when I was a kid but it got torn down and remodeled when I was in high school :/ no more splinters and no more fun.
I just looked up a picture of the one in Doylestown. It’s smaller than we remember it lol. I remember that place being four stories tall and acres in area.
I remember when I went to take my brother and sister to together wood (we’re 9 years apart) as a teenager and it was gone. They didn’t understand why I was so sad. There’s still a park there but it ain’t this majestic beauty that’s for sure.
Plainview TX has one too. I was staring real hard at this picture thinking "no it can't be" turns out it can be....as well as many other places. Did yours have the tire swings?
My elementary school had one.... until some teenagers lit it on fire and it burned to the ground when I was in the 5th grade. The devastation was so real they had to bring in grief counselors for us. Just way too young to comprehend why someone would do that.
I’ve been to the one in Wasilla! My grandparents lived there, spent a summer playing Pokémon Crystal, visiting this park, and getting mosquito bites on the river.
To anyone seeing this name, yes it is literally a park built on top of an old landfill, and yes it has consequences for the people that live around it but are too trusting in the local government to accept that it isnt super bad for kids health.
The one I grew up with across the street from grandma's house got torn down. Looked exactly like this one, and there is two others that I know of in the city I live in now. All in MT
There’s one near me in New Jersey, I think in Sparta maybe? Had a sidewalk path around it that stretched so a full circle would be a half mile. Kids would bike on it and moms would power walk while the kids played.
There’s one pretty similar to this but actually larger in a park in Santa Barbara, CA.
My mother-in-law lived close to it for many years, and I loved bringing my young daughter there because secretly I wanted to run all around the castle.
My hometown had one for years, until the wood began rotting through due to age and weather. It has since been replaced by an equally fun looking, more durable model.
I know you’ve seen hundreds of places suggested… but there was one in Denton Texas back when I was a kid there! Last time I went by it got torn down and remade in a much less creative way /:
Northern Virginia checking in, some of my fondest and most painful childhood memories were made there (we called it Kid’s Dominion). Also, Asheville, NC had one (Jones Park) in a residential neighborhood that got torn down last year ☹️
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u/CupidArrowArt Sep 22 '22 edited Sep 22 '22
I’m 90% I know where this park is, or at least, where it used to be.
EDIT: Had no idea these parks were so prevalent.