Carnival of Genealogy, 80th Edition, Family Fun, at the Amusement Park

The challenge for this carnival is: Research an event your ancestor may have attended. Did your ancestor live within a few blocks of the parade route for the annual Fourth of July parade in the town where they lived? If your family lived in a rural area, perhaps they attended a county or state fair. If they lived in a big city, perhaps they attended a play or movie opening. Was there an amusement park or traveling carnival near the area your family was from, one they might have visited? Were there fireworks displays in the town your family was from? How much do you know about the types of entertainment your ancestors might have enjoyed? ... This "fun" edition of the Carnival of Genealogy will be hosted by Jasia on the Creative Gene blog.






Here is a real cute photo of of Son # 2, and as cute as this is, does not really fit the challenge. In fact, he is not an ancestor, but, is FAMILY. (I ended up taking a bit of creative license with this challenge to include FAMILY.)






Then, I remembered this great photo of Man and his Mother on a roller coaster. He told me it was taken at Edgewater. Edgewater was opened in 1927 and closed in 1981. It was at 7 Mile and Berg in Detroit.


When I was growing up out in Oakland County Michigan we went to Walled Lake Amusement Park, 13 Mile and Novi Road. It opened in 1919 and closed in 1968. When it closed many of the rides were moved to Edgewater. I did not know that, find it interesting. No photos of Moi in attendance at Walled Lake tho.

When Man and Moi first started dating, Bob-lo Island was still an amusement park. You would ride an excursion steamer, two were the Columbia and the Ste. Claire, from Detroit to the Island (Canadian friends also loved Bob-lo, only I don’t remember the specifics of how the arrived at the Island.) Bob-lo Island was closed in 1993 and the Island now is the site of a residential community.


Man and Moi took the Midnight Cruise one weekend, believe it was late August 1967. Not sure which steamer we were on, but, we never got to the Island, the boat had mechanical problems shortly after leaving the dock and we spent the next several long hours sitting on the Detroit River. Man, Moi, my brother, sister-in-law and nephew took the boat/steamer to Bob-lo Amusement Park in 1989. It was a glorious weather day and we all had a grand time. Photo of brother, sister-in-law and nephew.


When our children were growing up one of the amusement parks they just loved was Cedar Point. I know there are family photos of visits to Cedar Point, but they are not scanned, have to put that on the to do list. Do have this one of Son #3 tho.



Four amusement parks played a big part of our families' lives, three are gone. Bitters sweet memories of family fun.

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