The Water Boggan got it's original start at Lake Myers Family Campground in Mocksville, NC . My Uncle, Dwight Myers, built it in the mid 70's. It was a basic hill with a concrete flume through it. It was such a success, he knew that he had something on his hands.
I want to believe that he built the one in South Myrtle beach first. My Parents were asked to manage the park in 1980. I have a picture of me and my sister standing by the sign on Hwy 17 (That never changed in 25 years) and there are actually trees. A sight not seen anymore in M.B.
We moved there and lived in a mobile home behind the slide. You could see it from the top of the hill.
Dwight went on and built the North Myrtle location later. It was a bit bigger and better. The South Myrtle location had 3 flumes made of concrete. The center lane was the center piece of the attraction. It's start was under the 8' waterfall at the top of the hill. And yes, one lane did go under a bridge. Tickets were for on hour to the slide. Rarely did people slide 1 hour. Who wants to walk up that hill for an hour?
The Rampage was built a few years later-perhaps 1984? You could buy a combo pass that allowed you entrance to both. The Rampage wasn't for the faint of heart! 50' tower with a 45 degree slide into a landing pool. I remember we use to go down with out a sled. It was brutal on your butt! But when you're a kid, who cares?
We moved in the late 80's. The park had a string of bad management afterwards. To best of my memory, Dwight got into an argument with the city of M.B. To piss them off further, he closed the park and let it sit in disrepair for a few years. The land that it sat on was a 30 year lease by the city of M.B. They tore it down when the lease was up.
I haven't been back in years. I was rather upset to learn that it was torn down. After all, it was my childhood playground. I now live in CT and my folks in NC.
The memories that I have from that place are some of the best! It had it's ups and downs (literally) though. My friends thought that it was so cool to live there. I thought it would be cool to live in neighborhood with other kids. But having an empty parking lot in the winter to ride bikes, and go-carts later, was awesome! And I always went fishing in the pond that was behind it.
If anyone is making a real documentary about this, I can get more info about the dates, etc. for factual regards.
Feel free to ask any questions. I'll try to answer them the best I can.
