Mountain Park: Rebirth

In 2002, a local attorney brokered a deal between Jay Collins and the state, which purchased all of the property that surrounded Mountain Park. It was to be kept as a nature preserve. Collins was left with approximately 50 acres that included the park's midway area, the picnic grove and ballfield and the parking lots. In August of 2006, local entrepreneur Eric Suher purchased the 50 acres from Collins for $1.6 million. But no one knew what he had planned.

With so much rubble scattered across the property, Roger Fortin hired a bulldozer to level the park property. The only structure left standing was the roof of Pippo's Dolly Pitch, as a sentimental gesture. Pictured above, Fortin is standing on the concrete track of the Cutie Caddy.

In the fall of 2006, a sign was placed on a new gate in front of the parking lot. "See you in the summer of '07 -- Mountain Park" sounded too good to be true.

It was too good to be true. The summer of 2007 came and went with relatively little activity. These were the steps that once led up to the Clambake Pavilion.

This was the foundation for the Playland Arcade. The only tree still standing was in the area between the office and the Baseball Game.

There were so few landmarks, it was difficult to tell where anything was. This was one of the few clues: the entrance to the Mountain Flyer.

This was once a tunnel for the train as is made its rounds through the mini-golf course. Players would walk up and over to get to the next hole. Waterfalls once poured from either side of it.

In 2008, a lot more clearing was done. The concrete floor of the Tap Room had begun to collapse into the basement below. So the remaining landmarks in the park were bulldozed into the ground. This shot once would have shown the carousel building on the left (behind the post) and the Dodgems on the right.

This massive section of concrete beside the old trolley road once held the entrance for the Sky Ride. The seats would travel high above the road and off to the right into the picnic grove.

This shot was taken standing in the parking lot, looking toward the picnic grove. Note that the remaining trees have all been trimmed up about 20 feet. The Sky Ride once would have traveled horizontally across this image.

Suher's crews cleaned up the tangled growth in the swampy area below the parking lot, revealing the original well house that supplied water to the park.

Visible for the first time in decades, this concrete area was located in front of the Casino and was used as a makeshift stage for a while.

Nearby and easily visible was the foundation for the turnaround of the Sky Ride, still embedded with giant metal I-beams. The local construction crew (John's Sunoco) that was hired to dismantle the ride gave up trying to jackhammer through the thick concrete.

This shows what was left of ARASERV's Animal Land. Hidden in the overgrowth are the chicken wire animal cages and some lone fence posts.

In 2008, this was all that remained of the sign shop, a small building from the early days of the park that was later used for storage. Its foundation was built with stonework similar to the old well house.

A little the worse for wear but still standing, the glacial erratic became the only survivor from the original Mountain Park.

This was all that remained of the flagpole that once stood in the middle of the ball field.

On August 15, 2009, Eric Suher opened his new Mountain Park for just two days. He was turning the area into a concert arena. Saturday was a free concert with local bands. Sunday would cost $30 and would feature the band The Decemberists. We went on Saturday, along with about 1500 other people. Karen stands here at the path that used to lead up to the Cotton Candy stand between the carousel and the Dodgems. For anyone new, there was no indication that a bustling amusement park once stood here.

In an interesting twist, there were so many cars arriving that the parking crew began directing them up the Whiting Reservoir access road and through the park's original entrance gate.

The "gate" for the concert was a bit improvised. The hand stamp meant only that you were allowed to buy beer. With the park area being so open, I have no idea how Suher could have policed the paid event to keep crashers out.

With Little Mount Tom as a backdrop, people make their way along the old trolley road toward the stage. On the left originally would have been the ballroom and Tap Room. The picnic grove was still on the right.

The picnic grove had been drastically cleaned up and was an inviting and shady spot for the audience.

The ARASERV picnic pavilion was cleaned up and housed food concessions.

The banners made it look festive and inviting. But the price of $3.25 for a bottle of water was a bit of a turn-off.

The stage was placed next to the foundation of the original carousel and faced the ball field, which provided a natural slope. The hastily-planted grass was just starting to appear. In the background, on what used to be the park's midway, is visible piles of crushed concrete from the demolition work.

The glacial erratic stood watch over the proceedings. The patrons who gathered in the grove didn't have much of a view, but they had shade from the hot sun.

The remains of Animal Land had been bulldozed into a haphazard pile at the back edge of the grove.

It was strange to see the parking lot filled for the first time in over twenty years. Many of the patrons came out of curiosity. And many had never been here.

This path once led people from the trolley stop down to the Casino. As Karen and I followed it, she spotted something in the dirt. It was a blue golf ball from the miniature golf course that had somehow survived the demolition work.

The thrilling turnaround of the Mountain Flyer once stood proudly along the left side of this image. The Clambake Pavilion would have been on the right. The lone pine trees standing in the distance on the right were where the Cutie Caddy traveled. Now all that remained was a vast expanse of dirt.

In April of 2010, I took a walk through the park property. Eric Suher was planning an ambitious 25 concerts for the summer. I was curious how he was progressing. Not much had changed, though. This fire hydrant used to be next to the Clambake Pavilion.

For some reason, the ARASERV pavilion had been uprooted and replanted in the center of what used to be the midway, near the office.

It appeared to have been assembled hastily, with the supports placed on thin Sonotubes. It also seemed to be crooked.

Extensive electrical work was being done, with conduits like this running all along the property.

There was also a vast underground sprinkler system being installed not only throughout the midway area, but the ball field as well.

Most impressive, though, was the work done on the ball field. The once-level area had been backfilled to create a continuous slope up to the old road for the ski area. The amount of dirt required for that task is mind-boggling. When I was walking through the area with Roger Fortin a few weeks before, a passerby mentioned Suher's ambitious plan for 25 concerts. Roger just shook his head and replied, "He'll be lucky if he has ten concerts." Roger was always correct. By the end of July, Suher had scheduled just seven.

By the end of the summer of 2010, the new park was shaping up. The parking areas were paved with traprock dust. New asphalt led into the park, along with a concrete sidewalk. Grass had finally taken root. A small pond had been placed to the left of the entrance. There was an abundance of flowers and new trees. Most obvious were the classy brick pillars holding up the new black metal fencing. For the first time in its history, the rest of the park property had been completely surrounded with a tall chainlink fence.

Unfortunately, the concert series never took hold. The property remained nicely landscaped but generally abandoned. By 2022, the Iron Horse Music Group had removed all references to the Mountain Park venue from their website.

Back to the Mountain Park Images page