Knott’s Berry Farm is an amusement park with its roots in the dirt; it all started as a berry farm. Walter Knott’s berry farm didn’t become famous with his berries but with the fried chicken of Knott’s wife, Cordelia. People waited for hours in line for it, and so Walter created attractions to entertain Cordelia’s customers while they waited hours for their meal. One of his attractions was the ghost town, which is still a main attraction to this day.
Since Walter loved trains, and felt like a ghost town was incomplete without one, in 1952, he installed a narrow-gauge track (Calico Railroad). The Rio Grande train, which puffed along the 5/8 mile track today, was used by prospectors during the gold rush and is now the site of fanciful train robberies.
We really lucked out today. The entire park was a ghost town.
I went a lot when I was a kid! So cool that the park was so empty for you guys!
We were Disney kids. I think we went as kids twice. So it doesn’t have the sentimental value. But I still love it.
I have a photo of me, as a child, sitting with those lovely ladies, too. What a total blast! I love all the images. You really captured the day! So dang fun. I’m with A1, thumbs up!
How fun I accidentally recreated a picture you have from your youth! The day was epic.
Some of my earliest memories are going to Knott’s Berry Farm before Disneyland existed. Whenever my father’s relatives would visit from Oregon and Washington or my mother’s relatives from Kansas and Missouri we would go to Knott’s Berry Farm and to the ocean. Four of my favorite things to do back then at Knott’s were to pan for gold, have boysenberry ice cream at the chicken dinner restaurant, get another bronzed pot metal horse, and ride the train. My mother would tell me about teaching in a one-room schoolhouse like the one at Knott’s. We would also celebrate Mother’s Day at Knott’s with a chicken dinner.
What a fun memory. Thanks for sharing!