The American path: from the pleasure garden to the amusement park

Pleasure gardens were ubiquitous in 19th-century America with most cities hosting multiple venues. Beyond amusing the masses, American pleasure gardens served several important roles in defining national identities, including navigating the transition from agrarian to industrial nation. Yet despite their importance and popularity, they all but vanished from the American landscape by the mid-19th century. This article examines what happened to the gardens in both physical terms, and, more importantly, in terms of what happened to the social space they created. It demonstrates that the amusement park is the chief successor to pleasure gardens, and that (unlike their British counterparts), this transition took place via public parks and world’s fairs. The legacy of pleasure gardens it is argued continue through many forms, including the theme parks, shopping centres, and museums of today. Naomi J. Stubbs is Assistant Professor of English. Her areas of research include 19th-century American theatre and popular entertainments and critical editing. Her first book, Cultivating National Identity through Performance: American Pleasure Gardens and Entertainment, was published in September 2013 with Palgrave Macmillan. She is currently working with Amy E. Hughes on an annotated critical edition of a 19th century actor/manager/playwright’s diary, tentatively titled A Player and a Gentleman: The Diary of Harry Watkins, 19th-Century American Actor. Stubbs is the co-editor of the Journal of American Drama and Theatre.