Golden Spur Park....The New York,New Haven & Hartford Railroad created Golden Spur Park. It contained most of the popular amusements of the time..........



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Golden Spur, also known as Head of the River, was a longtime center of commercial activity in town. The Beckwith family had a shipyard here in the eighteenth century, employing a dozen or so men building small schooners, sloops and the like. Before the small bridge was built over the river, commodities and machinery were carried to and from local mills and farms by barge. A plank bridge over the river eased transportation in the area.

In 1905, the East Lyme Street Railway, providing trolley service between East Lyme and New London, decided to increase ridership on the line by developing the Golden Spur Amusement Park. Rooms were available at the Golden Spur Inn on the north side of the road, and in the Annex on the south. There were many amusements, including a dance hall, skating rink, merry-go-round, and fun house. Boats and canoes were available for rental. A pagoda was built on a small island behind the Annex to serve as a tea room, connected to the shore by a rustic bridge. It was known as Little Japan. Visiting attractions included J. W. Gorman's World Famous Diving Horses.

The Amusement Park closed in 1924. The Inn and Annex buildings still stand, and are now private residences. The island is also private property, and the pagoda is no longer there.



CREDITS: Excerpts: East Lyme Historical Society