Dartmouth Memorializes ‘Magical’ Lincoln Park

The Dartmouth Heritage Trail "connects ten villages from the forested uplands to the seashore of Dartmouth." The DHR website says, "Each village had a vibrancy that we can only imagine today."

The trail connects Hixville Village with Westport Factory/Lincoln Park, Smith Mills, Bliss Corner, Bakerville, Paskamansett, Russells Mills, Padanaram, Apponagansett Bay and Round Hill.

The town has installed signage at most if not all of the villages containing a brief history, including photographs. The former Lincoln Park site recently received signage of its own.

The two-sided posting reads in part, "In its 93-year lifespan, Lincoln Park was so much more than an amusement park. It was a vibrant meeting place for many generations of residents in southeastern New England."

The sign describes Lincoln Park as a "magical part of many lives."

"The memories are so vivid that a sound, a smell, a taste can bring back the magic and return us to a time when the world was young and Lincoln Park was our great adventure," the sign reads.

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The Lincoln Park sign, erected at the corner of Reed Road and Beeden Road, contains nine photographic memories of Lincoln Park's heyday on one side and 10 on the other, contributed by Spinner Publications.

The signs were made possible by town and state funding as well as a donation from the New Bedford Whaling Museum and various commercial sponsors.

Lincoln Park opened in 1894 and closed in 1987.

You can read about Lincoln Park's history and see images of what it looks like today in this recent WBSM article.