The playground at the Newmarket Elementary School was a phenomenon of which I had never seen, and may never see again. Even to this day, looking back on it, it was the fucking coolest playground to have ever been built. So amazing, I almost think it must have just been a dream. It was so cool, I'm to the point of not believing it. But I remember. Let me break it down for you.
The Whale - It was a slide, it was a swing set, it was a jungle gym. It was a gigantic wooden construction designed in the shape and form of a whale. Inside it's head area, was a little space. The ramp started there, then went back at a slight incline to the tail. It then turned and came back to the top of the head. At the top of the head, was the slide. A metal three-kid-wide slide that was the Whale's mouth. The top of his mouth was wooden, and he had rubber eyes. The edges of everything dangerous was covered with this soft red-pink rubber. The tail of the whale were too rope swings, made of the same soft rubber. There were tires to stand on, huge tires. Branching off from the head were two tire swings. At the very tip of the tail was a small place you could stand and there was one of those long chains with round handholds every two or three feet and you could swing like a monkey from cross it to the....
Tire Pyramid - It's exactly what it sounds like. A bunch of tires, somehow connected to make a pyramid, and it was very high. Three big tractor tires high. Inside there was an extra large tire suspended in the middle, like a second story. I loved that whole thing. I can't remember exactly how tall in feet it was, but it must have been as tall as a regular classroom, if not more. And right nearby it lay thee ...
Random Tire and Wood Constructions - These were giant tractor tires half-buried in the sand forming multiple contructions to play on. One was just a row of these tires you could crawl through like tunnel. Another was the tires arranged like a chair and a wood platform for the seat. There were balance beams (not off the ground) of wood and rubber and tire outlining the perimeter of the playground, making it possible to cross from the whale to the other side of the playground, where rested the...
Castle - It was a exactly that. A wooden castle with rubber lining. No sharp edges. It had a ground floor, stairs to the top floor where you could find rubber poles to slide down on. A courtyard in the back, surrounded by benches of wood and tire. It was the site for many imagination games and make-believe live-action dramatic stories (sometimes very Sci-Fi, sometimes very Power Rangers). Behind castle were the woods, where we would also play (within sight range of the teacher) and when it snowed we'd slide down a semi-hill that was there. The Castle was really like a castle, and it's kingdom was the playground. It ruled over the pyramid, whale, and...
Swing Sets - Since the playground designers really dug the whole rubber-wood concept scheme, the swing set was just that. The seats were rubber, the frame wood and tall. One of the swings was actually this failed prototype of a swing made by cutting away part of a tire so I child could sit in it and swing. It was great. We'd have contests, swinging and jumping off them. I loved swinging more than any part of the playground. The swings were me. I'd get as high as I could and jump, and not worry about landing, because the ground was covered in soft, beautiful...
Sand - No mulch, no wood chips, no asphault. Sand. The playground was perfect because it was just one giant sandbox. No one got hurt. It was always warm. It was brilliant.
I grew up on that playground.
It's all gone now. Replaced with plastic, steel and mulch. A dead dream.
Showing posts with label playgrounds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label playgrounds. Show all posts
4.14.2007
Newmarket, NH
Enter Newmarket, New Hampshire.
We first lived in a duplex with some friends of my parents. The guy was named T.O. and I can't remember what his wife's name was. They were both very nice to us kids. It was halfway up a hill in the middle of town. Church Street, if you ever go there. At the bottom of Church Street was, suprise, a church. Between the church and my house were a parking lot (where I learned to ride my bike, but never actually rode one without training wheels until a couple years later) and a small building that may have been an apartment complex. If it was, in one of the ground floor apartments lived our friends Jaime and Joseph. Fletcher and I visited them a lot, and they visited us. Our mothers would swap turns babysitting us. One night while they were over playing with us, Jaime had an epileptic seizure. (Jaime is the RA on the 4th floor of my dorm now). It was very frightening. Across the street from us was an empty dirt space that was used as a parking lot. At the other side of that was a large house where a Laotian family lived. Newmarket had a very high Laotian population. My mother would baby-sit the little boy that lived there. I believe his name was Ricky.
Newmarket was a very small town, but I was an even smaller child, so it seemed very very large. Near and behind the church were the park and Lamprey River (named such for the lamprey eels that lived in it. I only saw these once, and they were dead and on the ground after the river flooded one time). Geese lived on the river, and we would frequently make trips down the hill to the park with bread for the geese. Once in a while, there would be swans. Swans are very beautiful creatures, but also very aggressive and dangerous. I was trying to feed one once that was floating a bit offshore and a man warned me not to, because it would attack and me and try to drown me. The geese never liked the swans either. I took this as a deep metaphorical lesson, but I'm not sure what it taught me.
Nearby the park, along the river, was a place called Joyce's. Joyce's made the best damn pancakes you'll ever have. Blueberry, Apple, Chocolate, with whip cream, with nuts, with natural maple syrup. Whatever it was, they had it, and it was amazing. Just trust me. Breakfast at Joyce's was a special treat. Also along the river, and one of Newmarket's claims to fame, were these large, large mills. I believe they made something that wasn't paper.
There is more to Newmarket, such as my house on Elm St. and this other street. Maybe Elder St.? Also, the playground, and Kendrick, and other semi-notable things, like houses by train tracks.
We first lived in a duplex with some friends of my parents. The guy was named T.O. and I can't remember what his wife's name was. They were both very nice to us kids. It was halfway up a hill in the middle of town. Church Street, if you ever go there. At the bottom of Church Street was, suprise, a church. Between the church and my house were a parking lot (where I learned to ride my bike, but never actually rode one without training wheels until a couple years later) and a small building that may have been an apartment complex. If it was, in one of the ground floor apartments lived our friends Jaime and Joseph. Fletcher and I visited them a lot, and they visited us. Our mothers would swap turns babysitting us. One night while they were over playing with us, Jaime had an epileptic seizure. (Jaime is the RA on the 4th floor of my dorm now). It was very frightening. Across the street from us was an empty dirt space that was used as a parking lot. At the other side of that was a large house where a Laotian family lived. Newmarket had a very high Laotian population. My mother would baby-sit the little boy that lived there. I believe his name was Ricky.
Newmarket was a very small town, but I was an even smaller child, so it seemed very very large. Near and behind the church were the park and Lamprey River (named such for the lamprey eels that lived in it. I only saw these once, and they were dead and on the ground after the river flooded one time). Geese lived on the river, and we would frequently make trips down the hill to the park with bread for the geese. Once in a while, there would be swans. Swans are very beautiful creatures, but also very aggressive and dangerous. I was trying to feed one once that was floating a bit offshore and a man warned me not to, because it would attack and me and try to drown me. The geese never liked the swans either. I took this as a deep metaphorical lesson, but I'm not sure what it taught me.
Nearby the park, along the river, was a place called Joyce's. Joyce's made the best damn pancakes you'll ever have. Blueberry, Apple, Chocolate, with whip cream, with nuts, with natural maple syrup. Whatever it was, they had it, and it was amazing. Just trust me. Breakfast at Joyce's was a special treat. Also along the river, and one of Newmarket's claims to fame, were these large, large mills. I believe they made something that wasn't paper.
There is more to Newmarket, such as my house on Elm St. and this other street. Maybe Elder St.? Also, the playground, and Kendrick, and other semi-notable things, like houses by train tracks.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
