Friday, September 20, 2013

FAVORITE DELAWARE COAST PLACES SAGA 2:

FUNLAND
Rehoboth Beach, DE.

Funland has been owned by the Fasnacht family for 50 years!


click to see: FUNLAND.

When the Portuguese sailor Lorenzo Dow was shipwrecked on the shores of what is now Rehoboth Beach, he must have liked what he saw. Dow built the first residence in the area, and was followed in 1872 by the Reverend Robert W. Todd of Wilmington, who claims he envisioned the exact spot as the ideal location for his Methodist retreat camp in a dream. Todd also was influenced by his journey to another oceanside camp in New Jersey, claiming in a sermon that "...the sea hath spoken"!
Despite Rehoboth's origins as a religious retreat, Reverend Todd and his pious followers soon found themselves at odds with local "land pirates" and saloon owners, and the longstanding dynamic of the beach resort was born.
Some came seeking serenity, some for absolute pandemonium, some commune with the heavens, others commute for the happy hour! It wasn't long before the rest of the Eastern Seaboard caught on, and families have made Rehoboth Beach a perennial playground ever since.
Its famous boardwalk was built in 1873, and has weathered a slew of tropical storms and hurricanes. Thousands still make the pilgrimage to Rehoboth every year to while away the summer months in style!
When the Fasnacht family bought the amusement park "Playland" on the Rehoboth boardwalk in 1962, its hurricane ravaged facade didn't look like a great investment. But now, over 40 years later, the thriving, family run park still boasts the best entertainment on the Delaware Beach, and still charges its original 25 cent ticket price!
Four generations of the Fasnacht family operate the park, and grandparents now watch with glee as their youngsters ride the same rides that thrilled them in their youth!

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