Playland

Book excerpt: 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.