I was surfing the internet recently and came upon the below piece of information regarding the Camden Park amusement center in Huntington. I, as have most of you, visited Camden Park as a child and even worked there one summer between high school and college. In all of that time, I don’t recall ever hearing of a burial mound presence in the area.
The Camden Park Mound is an Adena burial mound located near the mouth of Twelvepole Creek, on the floodplain above the Ohio River in the amusement park. Another mound once stood a sort distance east of the park, but it was leveled during the building of the Ohio and Big Sandy railroad right-of-way.
The flat-topped conical burial mound in Camden Park is the largest mound in the Huntington area, and is third in size in West Virginia. It has not been excavated; was probably built by the Adena people between 1000 B.C. and A.D. 1.
Several other so-called “Indian mounds” were located in Huntington at one time. One mound was located on Thirteenth Street, another said to be located at the peak at Gobbler’s Knob. Both mounds were leveled during the building of streets and roads in Huntington. About 1/2-mile above the mouth of the Guyandotte River were located three small mounds, all apparently destroyed as new streets, homes, and businesses were built in Huntington.
If you ever lived in Huntington during your youth, you probably remember the Gobblers Knob site. It was a place where all of the young couples used to go on dates. It provided a beautiful view of the city at night and a great place for young couples to go for the first kiss, at least that is what I have been told.
Speaking of Camden Park, it was started in 1903 as a roadside picnic area. I doubt the highway or road going past it was even paved. Along about 1906 or 1907 six or eight rides were placed officially raising its status to an amusement park. That is over one hundred years of age and remains as the only amusement park in West Virginia.
I vaguely remember my first visit there as a child. It would have been early in my childhood. Over the years we would go there for picnics or to meet family members for small reunions. I imagine there are many of you who as children in the Fort Gay area probably went as a member of a Sunday school or church group. I had an uncle in the Fort Gay area and I can recall him putting some chairs in the back of his cattle truck and taking a load of kids and parents there on outings. Those were the days when baskets of food would be packed and all would gather as a group in the picnic area of the park for lunch.
For many years there were special days for employees of a given industry or business when the park might be closed to all but those employees and they would be able to spend the day at no cost to them. Also, do you remember when tickets were sold for each ride, not an admission charge that covered the day. I don’t recall the charges but it was probably somewhere in the ten or fifteen cents area.
I spent the summer between high school and college working at Camden Park. I think I worked six days each week and was paid $30.00 per week. The days were long and the work was hard. Part of the work I would help with park maintenance and on Saturdays and Sundays I ran a snow cone booth. Snow cones were ten cents and there would be two of us working the booth. It seems I always had a young lady as my partner, so it fell my lot to also keep us supplied with shaved ice. The ice shaver was located about one half block distant in a small shed. I would take two five gallon pails and run ice through the shaving machine and then carry them back to the booth. By the time I got there with ice, lines would have formed for snow cones. I would then help sell the stuff and when the buckets got low it was back to the ice house. Talk about unskilled labor. BOY!
As part of maintenance, I did about anything that was hard and that the lazy adults wouldn’t do. I recall putting a roof on the carousel. I believe it had a two tiered roof and you had to listen to the incessant noise of the music underneath all of the time you were trying to concentrate on your job. I recall one of the workers dropping a roll of roofing off of the building, nearly striking a group of people. After that, the manager came to a wise decision of stopping the roofing while customers were around. OSHA would have gone “nuts” at some of the things we did.
The carousel had some beautifully carved wooden horses. I believe that several years ago, these were sold and replaced with plastic or fiberglass animals. Such a shame. They were very collectible and would bring a high price today. That kind of work just isn’t done very much anymore. I believe most carousel horses used to come from Germany.
One of my favorite things at the park was the small steam train. It was an exact duplicate of its big brothers that used to run up and down the railroad track except, of course, it was much smaller and ran on a narrow gauge railroad. It was coal-fired and the engineer sat on the tender behind the engine. It was very, very dirty. I have no idea whatever happened to it, but like all things it probably wore out. It would have been a great toy to have had on the farm with your own track.
The roller coaster at the park is on the site of the original but I imagine it has been rebuilt many, many times. It is an old wooden coaster which is the kind that all coaster riding aficionados prefers to ride. I used to think what a large structure it was. I can almost hear the coaster being drawn up the hill to the top with the stops along the sides of the track springing back into place as it passed to prevent it rolling backwards in the event a stall out occurred. Finally it would reach the top, pausing there for what seemed minutes but really wasn’t, and then beginning its mad dash down the first drop with screaming kids and adults gripping the grab bars and then madly dashing around the curves untill finally being braked to a stop at the terminus of the trip. At one time during the latter part of the 1900s there were three coasters at the park. Two of those have been closed and moved away, only the old original remains.
At the time I worked there, there was a large swimming pool that had fallen into disrepair. One of my jobs was to help get the thing going again. I remember hauling large loads of broken up concrete up a ramp from the bottom of the pool. A wheelbarrow load of that stuff weighed more than I did and about every third load up the ramp I would go over the side and then it was back to the bottom and reload.
Once each year on the 4th of July holiday the park would have a large fireworks show. I recall cars lining up a couple of hours prior to the show up and down the old James River Pike which was across the C & O railroad tracks that ran in front of the park. Route 60 in front of the park would be so jammed with traffic that police were nearly unable to keep it moving but at this time, it was the only show in town and people came from miles to see it.
For many years, Camden Park supported the only skating rink in the area. There may have been one in Ashland but if there was I don’t recall it. It would draw huge crowds. Perhaps some of you learned to skate there. I can remember trying it out in my late teens and not doing very well at it. For me, it became a purely spectator form of entertainment.
I think almost all who were alive in 1937 will remember the terrible floods up and down the Ohio River valley and the destruction it brought about. This was all prior to Huntington having a flood wall As a matter of fact, as a result of that great flood, Huntington’s flood wall was conceived and built. In its some sixty years of existence the flood wall has saved literally billions of dollars in preventing flood damage in the Huntington, Ceredo, and Kenova area. During the 1937 flood the park was completely covered. Of course, the park is outside the floodwall, however because of flood control on the Ohio River system I don’t believe it has ever flooded since.
Yes, for me the old park holds many memories, all of them good. It is good to see that it has lasted as long as I have. It kind of reminds you of the old Timex commercial, “Takes a licking and keeps on ticking.” I am sure that for many of you this also holds true.
Richard you should write a book and call it My Life On Queen’s
Creek in the 30’s. Kids today need to know that they can
succeed anywhere if they really want to. You could write it
on a sixth or seventh grade level. I think most kids would
love to hear your stories. Thanks for writing and keep on.
Mary J