Brandywine Springs State Park

Today we went to the Brandywine Springs State Park, which is located in Wilmington (about an hour from us). The area was once an amusement park, which I believe closed in 1924. It was opened before the turn of the last century. You would most likely not have any idea that there was an amusement park, were it not for the large green signs pointing out where buildings and attractions stood. I still can't wrap my head around this idea, that 85 years ago, there was a large amusement park where there is now a forest. What happened to all of the stuff that was there? Most of the buildings were made of wood, so I suppose if they weren't dismantled, they eventually rotted away. You can see the foundation stones of one building, which I found out on the website was the only building in the park made of concrete. There are very tall trees inside of this foundation today, which boggles my mind. It just seems like 85 years is not really a long time, but at the same time, it is. Time is realtive, I guess.

It's fascinating to think that this quiet forest was such a hub of activity at one time. It is right near train tracks, and the park was a stop back then, which is probably how many people traveled to the park. The tracks now are used for historical tours. There is apparently a railroad museum at their station which holds many artifacts from the amusement park. Have to go there next. :)

It's an interesting day trip. It makes you feel sad about progress, curious about what life was like back then, plus it can be a little spooky, even in the day time, because not many people have been in the amusement park area when we were there. It's actually located down a steep hill from the park area (where there are picnic tables, areas for sports, the parking lot, etc.), and there is a small sign very far away from the state park part that lets you know that down the path was the site of an old amusement park. Sarah actually found it by accident, and I'm glad she did, because it's a lot of fun. They even have archeological digs there, and we are going to try and go to one. So if you're in the area, please check it out, you'll be glad you did!