SPSS, Small Park Second Saturday! #1 Camden Park
Every second Saturday I am highlighting a smaller park that fewer people may know about. I’m calling this series SPSS, Small Park Second Saturday. For the first entry in this series I have selected Camden Park, the only amusement park in West Virginia.
Camden Park is a small amusement park in Huntington, WV, close to the Kentucky Boarder. It originated as a trolley park with its first ride, a carousel, opening in 1903. Although its current carousel is not the same carousel, the park does currently operate a 1958 wooden ACE landmark roller coaster Big Dipper. The park is also famous for operating it’s historic Haunted House dark ride manufactured by Pretzel Amusement Ride Company and dating back to the 1960’s.
I visited Camden Park in 2023. It was the first park of a 12-park week-long road trip. We split the day between Camden Park and Kentucky Kingdom so our time was limited, but approximately 2 hours was plenty of time to ride Big Dipper a few times, the other 2 roller coasters, the Haunted House, and the tilt-a-whirl. My only regret was not riding the sky ride but we were eager to get to Kentucky Kingdom with plenty of time remaining to do everything there. I remember the tilt-a-whirl giving a particularly good and very spinny ride. The park has a number of attractions we did not take the time to experience such as the aforementioned sky ride, swan paddle boats, a railway, a log flume, mini golf, and assorted flat rides. We could have just as easily spent more time there, but were also quite happy with our limited visit. With any given park big or small there are plenty of kids rides for small children that we were not interested in but would pad out time for families with them.
I asked my friend who went to Camden Park with me in 2023 if he had any thoughts to add, and he said “It’s a fun park with charm that I would have loved going to as a kid. Big dipper is rad and has an awesome lead car.” If you ever find yourself passing through Huntington, WV, and you want to ride a few historic and unique rides, definitely make sure you stop by the small yet fun Camden Park.
