When an amusement park shuts down, it can be hard to know what to do with the site. Theme parks often stand empty and abandoned for years, ending up on lists of the world’s most haunted places, with creepy rides slowly rusting and nothing but echoes of laughter on the wind. Sometimes, local government finds new uses for them, repurposing abandoned amusement parks as public green spaces or water parks. Sometimes they are preserved, kept as modern ruins for tourists to visit and wander around, with an ethereal yet charming atmosphere.
When Rhode Island’s Rocky Point Amusement Park in Warwick closed in 1996, no one seemed to know what to do with it. It reopened briefly in 1998 as a one-off haunted attraction called Halloweenland, but this was short-lived, and it remained closed, ruined, and abandoned for almost 20 years. After significant vandalism and a series of fires, the City of Warwick purchased the site in 2008, and in 2014, reopened the land as a wonderful state park with gorgeous sea views, preserving several eerie remnants of the original rides.
Rocky Point State Park is situated outside the city of Warwick, just south of Providence in Rhode Island. It is easily accessible from both I-95 and I-295, as well as being just a 15-minute drive from Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport (PVD), one of America’s best airports, which is served by routes from around the U.S., Mexico, and Cape Verde.
The history of Rocky Point Amusement Park
Rocky Point Amusement Park was first used as a place of recreation in 1840 by Captain William Winslow, who used the spot as a destination for Sunday outings for his Sunday school. Rides began to be built in the 1850s, and the park slowly took shape, becoming a popular spot for Rhode Islanders. It was also popular among more famous names, with President Rutherford B. Hayes using the park in 1877 to make the first-ever presidential phone call, and Babe Ruth playing baseball on the field in 1914…