World’s oldest roller coaster reopens at Pennsylvania park

World’s oldest roller coaster reopens at Pennsylvania park

ALTOONA, Pa.

Memorial Day weekend brought the reopening of the world’s oldest roller coaster still in operation.

Leap The Dips was built in 1902 at Altoona’s Lakemont Park. It was in continuous operation until the 1980s, and was refurbished and reopened in the 1990s.

LehighValleyLive.com reported the park had been closed the past two seasons for repairs and reopened Memorial Day weekend.

The coaster only goes 10 mph and is only 41 feet high, but thrill-seekers may like the fact that it operates without seat belts, lap bars or headrests.

The National Park Service added Leap The Dips to its registry of National Historic Landmarks in 1996.

New railroad workers exhibit at Smithsonian

Washington

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History marked the 150th anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad with “Forgotten Workers: Chinese Migrants and the Building of the Transcontinental Railroad” and “The Transcontinental Railroad.”

The new displays, which opened last month, offer insight into the backbreaking labor that ultimately connected the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroad companies at Promontory Summit, Utah, May 10, 1869.

A large graphic floor map of the United States will show the difficult and expansive terrain that challenged workers and the scale of the project that successfully connected the east and west coasts of the country by land. Visitors will be able to walk the route of the railroad, find the states and territories that it passed through, understand that native peoples were displaced and the impact on the American landscape and environment.

The exhibit will run through spring 2020.

Wright home in Rockford to get visitors’ center

ROCKFORD, Ill.

There are plans to open a visitors’ center in Rockford for the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Laurent House, which opened as a museum four years ago.

The Rockford Register Star reported the Laurent House Foundation plans to renovate dilapidated properties across the street from the home. It will offer a visitors’ center, gift shop and have offices and parking. Private donations are funding the $500,000 project. An estimated 2,000 people toured the home last year, and it has attracted visitors from Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom.

The 2,600-square-foot Laurent House, built in the early 1950s, is on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s the only house Wright designed specifically for someone with disabilities.

Zip line opens at W. Va. state park

PIPESTEM, W.Va.

A zip line course has opened at a southern West Virginia state park.

The new attraction opened in May at Pipestem Resort State Park in Summers County.

The state Department of Commerce said in a news release the 1.5-mile tour lets riders move at speeds up to 50 mph above the Bluestone National Scenic River. At the end of the tour, riders return on the park’s tram.

ACE Adventure Resort operates the zip line, which is part of $11 million in park renovations. Pipestem is also undergoing improvements to its cabins, lodge, campgrounds, water treatment facility and tram.

Associated Press