Historic 19th Century Advertising Broadside
Rocky Pont Park (1847-1995)

If you are from RI or MA, you in particular will be excited about this most Rare find and Amazing piece of 19th Century History.    We all grew up seeing the Spring Time commercials on TV for New England's most anticipated Amusement park and Famous Chowder Dinner Hall at Rocky Point Park in Warwick, RI.  The spectacular Rides, Games and the smell of popcorn and cotton candy, and of course the World Famous Rocky Point's Shore Dinner Hall where visitors came as far as New York to enjoy!  It was one of the top amusement parks in the Northeast for over a Century.     Some of the most famous appeared there including AC/DC, Janice Joplin and the Three Stooges.  Babe Ruth hit a home run at Rocky Point in 1914 and President Rutherford B. Hayes visited in 1877, making the first presidential telephone call there.  

And this is one of the most remarkable historic finds from 150 years ago when Rocky Point was an iconic landmark and tourist stop, proving how desirable of an attraction and destination it was.   In actuality, this may be the earliest piece of Rocky Point history ever discovered!  And not just a brochure, photo or matchbook, but a full size advertising/promotional Broadside which were a primary advertising medium in the 19th and early 20th century.   That one of these survived intact is nothing short of astonishing!

This broadside is evidence that even the Transportation to Rocky Point by Railway or Steamer was in and of itself a memorable experience with top entertainment as with this historic broadside promotes the famous Gilmore's Band on the Rocky Point Excursion from Boston.

Detailed Description:
BROADSIDE: 1868 "Clambake at Rocky Point Grand Excursion" advertising poster/ broadside on thin yellow stock, $2 fare for excursion included transportation from Boston via Old Colony and Newport Railway train and passage on the Steamer Canonicus, accompanied by Gilmore's Band.

Size: About 20x32" Unframed. 

Condition:  Remarkable preserved Very Good condition for its 150 Years!.  Staining to paper verso, wear to broadside consistent with age and use including yellowing/ toning, area of loss at center. UNFRAMED  (was removed from frame)

Rocky Point History/BIO:
Captain William Winslow conceived the idea for a family entertainment park in the 1840s. He had purchased land and began to offer amusements and serve dinner by 1847.

In July 1936, the salt-water swimming pool at the park hosted tryouts for the 1936 Summer Olympics.

Rocky Point Park was one of the most popular attractions in Rhode Island from the 1950s through the mid-1990s. It featured rides such as the Skyliner, Corkscrew Loop Roller Coaster, Log Flume, and the Freefall, which fell 13 stories at 55 mph (89 km/h). It also featured the Shore Dinner Hall, known for its clam cakes, steamers, lobsters, and Rhode Island style clam chowder. It seated more than 4,000 patrons at a time.

Rocky Point's financial situation became shaky in the early 1990s. The company that owned the park began to lose money in its attempts to leverage Rocky Point Park to fund other ventures. Rocky Point closed in 1995

Gilmore Band History/BIO:
Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore (December 25, 1829 – September 24, 1892) was an Irish-born American composer and military bandmaster who lived and worked in the United States after 1848. While serving in the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War, Gilmore wrote the lyrics to the song "When Johnny Comes Marching Home". This was published under the pseudonym Louis Lambert in September 1863.

He settled in Boston, Massachusetts in 1848, becoming leader of the Suffolk, Boston Brigade, and Salem bands in swift succession. He also worked in the Boston music store of John P. Ordway, performing as a member of "Ordway's Aeolians", a blackface minstrel group, with whom he played tambourine. With the Salem Band, Gilmore performed at the 1857 inauguration of President James Buchanan.