Holy Cow! I finally found some film footage of Gettysburg's long lost theme park,
Fantasyland. Somebody uploaded to YouTube about 12 minutes of family home movies including 2 minutes of a visit to the defunct Fantasyland park.
Just click on this link to see about two minutes of silent footage shot on 8MM. You'll see the park's iconic entrance through a giant story book. The structure of the book was still standing as recently as 2002, but has since been destroyed. The film also shows kids on a sliding board attraction. Research shows the park did have a sliding board in The Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe's house, but this appears to be more of a castle structure...perhaps Rapunzel's Castle which is also reported to have been an attraction at the park.
There is also some footage of kids playing around a giant farmer with a huge apple. This display was sponsored by Musselman's Apple Sauce, who along with their parent company own three factories in the area.
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| Mr. Musselman - A Musselman processing plant in nearby Chambersburg, PA was bought by parent company Knouse Foods in 1949 and was used to produce one product...applesauce! |
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| Vintage Newspaper Ad |
The park's train - The Cannonball Express - can also be seen in the footage.
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Vintage Postcard
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Holy Cow! I finally found some film footage of Gettysburg's long lost theme park, Fantasyland. Somebody uploaded to YouTube about 12 minutes of family home movies including 2 minutes of a visit to the defunct Fantasyland park. Just click on this link to see about two minutes of silent footage shot on 8MM. You'll see the park's iconic entrance through a giant story book. The structure of the book was still standing as recently as 2002, but has since been destroyed. The film also shows kids on a sliding board attraction. Research shows the park did have a sliding board in The Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe's house, but this appears to be more of a castle structure...perhaps Rapunzel's Castle which is also reported to have been an attraction at the park.
Love these historical views!
ReplyDeleteI love the nostalgic look of that old 8mm footage. Great find.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was about 9 years old my uncle and aunt took me to Fantasyland...I loved it. One of my favorite childhood memories ever!
ReplyDeleteI just stumbled across this online. Thank you to who posted this. I live in Thurmont and so this was basically right in my back yard. My cousins who I grew up with lived in Waynesboro. Every year as soon as school was out my Mother and my Aunt and my Grandmother would schedule a Fantasy Land date. I remember being so excited to go and we had just the best time there. I have not thought about that place in many years. I wish something like that was still around. Awesome memories!
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