Commerce
Adventureland formerly at 1 Scotland Road, at the intersection with Route 95
In operation from the 1950s - 1969. A gentleman whose family rented the caretaker’s house following the park's closing describes Adventureland: As you face the State Police Station you are looking at what was once the parking lot of Adventureland. An oval-shaped driveway circled around the parking lot, with a road to the left which led to a house and the other to the Castle, which was the main entrance.
As you passed through the Castle you could follow one of three roads. If you went to the right, you headed to the Old Lady in the Shoe Slide and The Three Bears’ House and on to the Lion Cages and then a fenced-in area with other animals. If you stayed straight there was a gingerbread house which served as a concession stand and then to Jack and the Beanstalk. If you went to the left, you passed the souvenir shops and then the ship which looked out over Route 95, then to Dodge City, the Railroad Ride, and then to Fort Apache. A little red schoolhouse and Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater were also in this vicinity. The road then looped around to the back of Jack and the Beanstalk to a roller coaster, merry-go-round, and other amusements.
When Route 95 was expanded to a four-lane highway in the late 1970s, the state took the sign for Adventureland and the caretaker’s house. The rest of the property was sold to the state, which razed the entire park.
Byfield Woolen Mill
formerly at the falls, Byfield
This mill was the first incorporated textile mill in Massachusetts, established in 1794. The first year it was open, one could visit the mill for 10 cents admission. Sleighing parties from all across the region made the trip to see the mill in production. The building was 100 feet long, 40 feet wide and three stories high, quite
a sight at a time when a typical village mill might be 45 feet long, 20 feet wide and only two stories high. In this same building, Jacob Perkins of Newburyport developed the first nails which were both cut and headed by machine in America. It was rebuilt after a fire in 1860, but a fire in 1932 leveled the entire building. All that is left today is the mill dam at the Central Street bridge over the Parker River and the foundation on the east side of Central Street.
Chipman Mine formerly off of Scotland Road
Silver was discovered in a large field off Scotland Road in 1878. The Chipman Silver Mine produced $500,000 worth of silver before it closed in 1925.