NORFOLK, Va. — I visited the Ocean View Station Museum to learn more about an amusement park that used to stand along the Chesapeake Bay.
"We celebrate the history, the people, the events of Ocean View." Charles Fleetwood, the director of the Ocean View Station Museum, told me as he walked me around the museum. And a big part of that history is the amusement park. Yes, there used to an amusement park right along the Chesapeake Bay in Norfolk.
Fleetwood remembers, "My parents would bring all the kids down on Saturdays and I think I've ridden just about everything that that was at the park. Five cents, ten cents a ride. The big things might have cost a quarter."
The amusement park flourished in the 1950s and 60s, with “The Rocket” roller coaster and “Candy” the clown as fan favorites.
But the park ended up closing in the late 1970s. "Virginia Beach began to flourish as a destination point and the park just simply went out of business. It was a heartbreaker."
"Everyone thought that the roller coaster was dangerous and rickety and about to fall down and they couldn't tear it down. They had to blow it up!"
The Ocean View Station Museum is located inside the Pretlow Library on West Ocean View Avenue in Norfolk. The museum is open Monday to Saturday from 10 AM to 5 PM and Sunday from 1 PM to 5 PM.
