Ed Kindle has kindly uploaded a few more old Erie postcards featuring Waldameer. They make up a wonderful postcard collection that shows old-time Erie. Thanks again, Ed!
I was kind of wondering about the beach pics as well. I've stayed at Sarah's, but you can't really walk beyond their section of the beach. How big of a stretch of beach did/does Waldameer own?
I'd read somewhere (maybe in an older blog) that there were long term plans to re-use the beach at some point. I was looking at the beach below Waldameer on Google Earth and it doesn't seem big enough to do much with?
There's a book out there called "Amusement Parks of Pennsylvania," by Jim Futrell. It covers a wide range of parks but talks about Waldameer's early days and the beach (along with what happened to the original RF).
There's a free preview of the book online, but a lot of pages are missing (hence, the free preview part). Looks like it could be worth picking up for the rest of the story.
Looking at some of those post cards along with the pic of the incline from Jim Futrell's book, I kind of have to wonder if the land currently occupied by the beach side of Sarah's campground wasn't originally part of Waldameer Beach. I mean, between the cottages, the bathhouse and the hotel that are seen in those post cards, not to mention the wooded area of the incline, I really can't see how all of that would fit in the area that's right below Waldameer now.
I'll try to kill two birds with one stone. 1. We have an old map pf the park from back then and the "Outdoor Theater" was located approximately where the Sea Dragon is now. There was not a "Cafe" on the map. 2. We currently own about 380 feet of beach front, and it used to be about 1,100 feet. More to come.
A pic of that map would be awesome if it could be aranged.
So, the original beach was nearly 3x as long as what they own now. Sounds like they owned the land currently owned by Sarah's and parhaps a little bit more.
It would be great if they could make use of that beach but with only 380' I'm not sure what they could do with it. Although, it seemed to me that they could run some steps down there, rope off a section of the lake and use the lake rather than spending money on a wave pool?
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By the older photos, It kinda looks like Waldameer was connected to the beach, much like Conneaut Lake Park is connected to the beach and lake.
Do you have any BEFORE and AFTER maps of Waldameer and Presque Isle over the years?
I was kind of wondering about the beach pics as well. I've stayed at Sarah's, but you can't really walk beyond their section of the beach. How big of a stretch of beach did/does Waldameer own?
I'd read somewhere (maybe in an older blog) that there were long term plans to re-use the beach at some point. I was looking at the beach below Waldameer on Google Earth and it doesn't seem big enough to do much with?
There's a book out there called "Amusement Parks of Pennsylvania," by Jim Futrell. It covers a wide range of parks but talks about Waldameer's early days and the beach (along with what happened to the original RF).
There's a free preview of the book online, but a lot of pages are missing (hence, the free preview part). Looks like it could be worth picking up for the rest of the story.
I checked around, and no, we don't have any. That would have been neat.
I think we have a copy of Jim Futrell's book actually. I'll do some research on the beach. Good idea.
Looking at some of those post cards along with the pic of the incline from Jim Futrell's book, I kind of have to wonder if the land currently occupied by the beach side of Sarah's campground wasn't originally part of Waldameer Beach. I mean, between the cottages, the bathhouse and the hotel that are seen in those post cards, not to mention the wooded area of the incline, I really can't see how all of that would fit in the area that's right below Waldameer now.
I'll try to kill two birds with one stone. 1. We have an old map pf the park from back then and the "Outdoor Theater" was located
approximately where the Sea Dragon is now. There was not a "Cafe" on the map. 2. We currently own about 380 feet of beach front, and it used to be about 1,100 feet. More to come.
A pic of that map would be awesome if it could be aranged.
So, the original beach was nearly 3x as long as what they own now. Sounds like they owned the land currently owned by Sarah's and parhaps a little bit more.
It would be great if they could make use of that beach but with only 380' I'm not sure what they could do with it. Although, it seemed to me that they could run some steps down there, rope off a section of the lake and use the lake rather than spending money on a wave pool?
Hopefully my post from today helped you out with your questions. That book had lots of good info.
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