Sad times
I started thinking the other day about places down at the coast that I remember my family taking for those lovely summer vacations, you know, when kids were actually off a good amount from school for the summer. This was in part triggered by the closing of The Pavillion down in Myrtle Beach, somewhere I like many east coasters enjoyed for college spring break. But now back to my even younger days.
One of the first places I remember going is Place at the Beach III. The memory of this place that stands out most is one year we cut our vacation short by one day due to a hurricane coming in. I remember stopping the old truck out in front of the office to drop the keys off and a certian song playing on the radio. Now if I hear it I immediatly think back to that night. The hurricane didn't do too much to the place but it did ruin the water slide to the pool there. However, now that I looked at the website to Place at the Beach III, they have rebuilt it.
Another place we stayed, and many times at that, was Summer Winds. Great little place and real close to several piers (my next discussion) and a place named Jungle Golf. Across the street from the condo was a little gift store that I can still remember looking at the hermit crabs and all at. Jungle Golf was this great putt-putt place that had rides, bumper boats (one group for small kids and a very nice set-up for teens and adults), a jungle themed putt-putt course and a small theatre area that I remember a magician being at one time and my oldest sister actually getting called up on stage. I was trying to see what the place is like now and came across a few news articles and sites about it. The theatre was turned into an arcade. But, after looking more into it... Junglegolf is no more, bull dozed to make way for several condos and other houses. It's rather sad to think there is no more Junglegolf, a place I looked forward to as a small kid every summer.
Now something that really get me is the destruction of many of the piers on the NC coast. My dad would always go out atleast one night fishing off a pier and not to mention the many times I walked the old wood planks at night just for the sites. Unfortunatly, many of these are dissappearing due to insurance costs, the cost of land (developers love to take a pier, tear it down and then slap up a hotel or houses), and destruction due to hurricanes that drives the price of insurrance up even more. One most notable pier was the Iron Steamer Pier. An older steam ship sank just past the breakers in the early 1900 and the pier was built close to where on a really low tide you could see part of it. The pier has now since been torn down, just like Triple S, Sportsman, Indian Beach and Emerald Isle Beach. There have been talks by some to help out the piers, since they do help the tourist draw and NC did at one time have 1 more pier in total above all of Florida's, even though Florida's coast is 1350 square miles compared to NC's 301. But, like most things, this was not a bill supported by big business or a fancy lobbeyest with lots of money.
It's just sad to see places like this go, espescially knowing kids today won't have such great memories that could have been made at the wonderful sites.
One of the first places I remember going is Place at the Beach III. The memory of this place that stands out most is one year we cut our vacation short by one day due to a hurricane coming in. I remember stopping the old truck out in front of the office to drop the keys off and a certian song playing on the radio. Now if I hear it I immediatly think back to that night. The hurricane didn't do too much to the place but it did ruin the water slide to the pool there. However, now that I looked at the website to Place at the Beach III, they have rebuilt it.
Another place we stayed, and many times at that, was Summer Winds. Great little place and real close to several piers (my next discussion) and a place named Jungle Golf. Across the street from the condo was a little gift store that I can still remember looking at the hermit crabs and all at. Jungle Golf was this great putt-putt place that had rides, bumper boats (one group for small kids and a very nice set-up for teens and adults), a jungle themed putt-putt course and a small theatre area that I remember a magician being at one time and my oldest sister actually getting called up on stage. I was trying to see what the place is like now and came across a few news articles and sites about it. The theatre was turned into an arcade. But, after looking more into it... Junglegolf is no more, bull dozed to make way for several condos and other houses. It's rather sad to think there is no more Junglegolf, a place I looked forward to as a small kid every summer.
Now something that really get me is the destruction of many of the piers on the NC coast. My dad would always go out atleast one night fishing off a pier and not to mention the many times I walked the old wood planks at night just for the sites. Unfortunatly, many of these are dissappearing due to insurance costs, the cost of land (developers love to take a pier, tear it down and then slap up a hotel or houses), and destruction due to hurricanes that drives the price of insurrance up even more. One most notable pier was the Iron Steamer Pier. An older steam ship sank just past the breakers in the early 1900 and the pier was built close to where on a really low tide you could see part of it. The pier has now since been torn down, just like Triple S, Sportsman, Indian Beach and Emerald Isle Beach. There have been talks by some to help out the piers, since they do help the tourist draw and NC did at one time have 1 more pier in total above all of Florida's, even though Florida's coast is 1350 square miles compared to NC's 301. But, like most things, this was not a bill supported by big business or a fancy lobbeyest with lots of money.
It's just sad to see places like this go, espescially knowing kids today won't have such great memories that could have been made at the wonderful sites.
posted by Bryce at Daily Productions at 10:49 PM
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