1st and 3rd Oldest Amusement Parks in the U.S. Are in New England

If one of your bucket list items is to raise your arms high and scream on rollercoasters around the country, then the oldest should make the list. That means we're already ahead of the game.

As it turns out, the first and oldest amusement park in the nation is right here in our New England backyard.

Welcome to Lake Compounce in Bristol, Connecticut, outside Hartford.

If you're not familiar, it not only has everything you want in a theme park (including five roller coasters, plenty of food, and live shows), but it also sits on a lake with a beach and water park.

Lake Compounce is also home to the Boulder Dash, which was voted the world’s number one wooden coaster, according to Oldest. By the way, it's also the fourth oldest amusement park in the entire world.

In 1846, a Connecticut scientist named Samuel Botsford conducted experiments involving electricity. As you can imagine, those experiments drew in a huge crowd of people flocking to watch in wonderment. That's when Samuel created Lake Compounce as a place to have picnics and barbecues while watching the experiments.

With a very entrepreneurial spirit, Samuel slowly started adding attractions and rides two years later. This kickstarted the creation of the first and oldest amusement park in the United States, according to Oldest.

Following Lake Compounce, one of the next amusement parks to emerge was Six Flags New England in Agawam, Massachusetts, some 25 years later in 1870.

Six Flags New England was originally a public park called Gallup’s Grove, according to Oldest. It is officially the oldest amusement park under the Six Flags umbrella.

Here are the oldest amusement parks in the United States, according to Oldest.