New Photo Tour---Nay Aug Park, Scranton (Pittston, Audubon: low crime, townhouses, neighborhoods)

[mm_mary73]

Originally Posted by MovingBack2PA

Hi there SWB
Listen, since I am not up there at the moment, you have to be my eyes and ears....lol.
Can you please tell, me whatever happened to Keyser Ave?
Are they done with the construction there? (To Rt. 6 up to the viemont mall)
And, how does it look?
How is traffic now up there ? (Was told, it has gotten worse on 81 and especially on rt.6 as well)
Sorry, I have to bug you with those questions...lol. My friend (they live in Old Forge and Taylor) tell me, it's gotten so worse, but, I know they might be "fibbing" a bit???? lol
Thanks a mil!!

Well, the traffic on Rt 6 not as bad as in the past, BUT the road behind the mall, where Michaels, Old Navy, etc is .... I think the construction is still there, but the mess at the Morgan Highway is finished and seems better. I was there over Christmas.....

[MB2]

Originally Posted by mm_mary73

Well, the traffic on Rt 6 not as bad as in the past, BUT the road behind the mall, where Michaels, Old Navy, etc is .... I think the construction is still there, but the mess at the Morgan Highway is finished and seems better. I was there over Christmas.....

Thank's for the info mm !
Hubby and I will go up in feb. unfortunately, not moving there......yet.

[I LOVE PA!]

I have never been in anything I would consider 'traffic' in Pa. yet! Coming for L.I., where it would take me sometimes 2 hours to get to work 20 miles away, Pa. traffic is a walk in the park!

[Princess Sunflower]

My dad's family is from Scranton and we used to go back and visit the relatives every summer and go to Nay Aug Park. My dad was actually a life guard at the pools when he was younger and tell us stories of jumping into the gorge. Wasn't there an old bridge that went across from one side of the gorge to the other? I remember going on the rides, seeing the animals, the museum and going into the mine replica and taking long walks in the park. I actually got lost in the park and scared my parents to death. They eventually found me near the swings. This past Spring we went back for the visit and were suprised how beautiful the park is. I was disappointed that the mine was padlocked. Is this permanently closed? The other place we use to go was Rocky Glen. My favorite ride was the caterpiller. It was basically a roller coaster that looked like a caterpiller. While you were in motion a hood would come over the ride and you would be enclosed while going around. I know the place has long closed. Would be curious to know what's there now and how it looks.

[rjw8625]

Just some thoughts and answers to questions in the thread.

P.S., I don't ever remember that mine being open. If it was ever open, it hasn't been in 15 years.

About the pics,

The Gravity Railroad Car Restoration was a good friend of mine's Eagle Scout Project. I spent a decent amount of a day scraping paint chips off of it. It was in rough shape back when it was red around 1996-7.

This amusement park is different from the one I went to as a kid in the mid 80's. There was a rollercoaster called the Comet, a Whip, Helicopters, and other kiddie rides. Here's some vintage pics of the Comet. The only surviving model of this mini-coaster is in Huntington, WV. The park section closed in 1987.




The pool used to be significantly larger. In fact, there were two similar sized pools. One was only 3.5 feet deep. The other had a high diving board. Not sure which pool that is or even if it is one of the originals. I know they used to have Ice Skating on the shallow pool when cold enough. For a lot of my childhood though, we didn't have long enough coldspells for that.

That Davis trail does not look familiar at all. Looks like a nice addition. I never went down to Nay Aug gorge for reasons already mentioned. I'd say 4-5 kids died there during my years in Scranton. Most swimming, but others screwing around. I have to say, those pictures of the gorge are awesome. You should think about entering "100_0715.jpg" in a photo contest!
Was just in Ithaca last weekend. They have a couple of scenes similar to this near the bottom of Cayuga Lake.

From what I understand, the zoo is seasonal now. In 5th grade (1991) they took Tony the Elephant away to the National Zoo in Washington D.C. He really couldn't be adequately cared for at the Nay Aug Zoo. Looking back with 2007 lenses on, you wouldn't believe an elephant could possibly be kept there.

Someone in another thread asked if Nay Aug was an abbreviation. It is actually Delaware Indian for Running Water or Noisy Water.

J.G., I miss the mountains too. Rochester, NY has High Falls, but the bulk of the city is on top of the Niagara Escarpment and is flat.

[Princess Sunflower]

I'm talking about going there as a kid back in the 60's so yes, it's been a long time. I thought the pool area looked a little different to me. I wish I had pictures of the place but the parents weren't too big on that back then.

We thought the mine replica was really cool as a kid. You walked in a little ways and there was a mannequin of a miner and a coal car.

[chuckboyle]

Grew'd up 5 blocks from Nay Aug. Originally Lake Lincoln was a single huge concrete pool ranked 2nd largest in US. Yearly drownings cos you couldn't see the bottom. The Falls was 40 ft high before being dynamited in the late 80's or there abouts. You could get an extra 20 ft (60 total) by jumping off the rock over-hang on the otherside of the Nay Aug bridge (gone too). "Killer" jumped from the bridge to the basin in the 50's.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by chuckboyle

Grew'd up 5 blocks from Nay Aug. Originally Lake Lincoln was a single huge concrete pool ranked 2nd largest in US. Yearly drownings cos you couldn't see the bottom. The Falls was 40 ft high before being dynamited in the late 80's or there abouts. You could get an extra 20 ft (60 total) by jumping off the rock over-hang on the otherside of the Nay Aug bridge (gone too). "Killer" jumped from the bridge to the basin in the 50's.

I always thought it looked like a lot of fun to jump into the gorge, but I kept thinking to myself "What if there's a rock right below the water's surface?" I would never want to risk being paralyzed for life just to cool off a bit. I am oddly-drawn to the water's edge though---I'm tempted to leave the Davis Trail from time to time in order to just stick my feet into Roaring Brook!

[weluvpa]

What SWB is not telling you is that the Zoo currently does not have running water and it has to brought in by bottle, due to the fact that the city is not giving the zoo the $$$ it was promised. The Davis trail although its beautiful has several locations where there is raw sewege openly running over the trail. Nay Aug is by far nothing compared to its glory days and the park is a total mees with building problems, such as the new pool house is not up to code and it was build inadequately, thus it is going to be torn down. Another example of the mayors no bid contracts to his contributors, the residents will have to pay for the house twice in order to get it right. The rides are problematic and not always working and the fish pond is green and unable to support life and it was just rebuilt to the tune of $700,000.....The current admin slapped a coat of paint on the park and now they use it as their soap box of revival. SWB has a great vision and he is a great cheerleader for the city he just needs to cheer for the residents abit more now and again.

[mm_mary73]

Originally Posted by weluvpa

What SWB is not telling you is that the Zoo currently does not have running water and it has to brought in by bottle, due to the fact that the city is not giving the zoo the $$$ it was promised. The Davis trail although its beautiful has several locations where there is raw sewege openly running over the trail. Nay Aug is by far nothing compared to its glory days and the park is a total mees with building problems, such as the new pool house is not up to code and it was build inadequately, thus it is going to be torn down. Another example of the mayors no bid contracts to his contributors, the residents will have to pay for the house twice in order to get it right. The rides are problematic and not always working and the fish pond is green and unable to support life and it was just rebuilt to the tune of $700,000.....The current admin slapped a coat of paint on the park and now they use it as their soap box of revival. SWB has a great vision and he is a great cheerleader for the city he just needs to cheer for the residents abit more now and again.

You are becoming a bit tiresome. The Zoo has been in poor condition since the 80s and from what I can recall, in danger of being closed several times. No, Nay Aug hasn't been great in YEARS, due to poor management from the city, dating from much farther back than "the current administration" and if memory serves me, I think there may have been some private monies involved in the park operation as well. You have issues with "the current administration"? You have so much to say - be a change agent and put those words into action. You complain that the residents are downtrodden and have no voice - back a candidate of your choice and get out the vote or file as a candidate and run yourself!