Spending an afternoon at Rose Island

Nice weather means another Ramblin’ Rambler Roadtrip. We started the day with a stop at one of our favorite Louisville brunch spots, Selena’s at Willow Lake Tavern. Great food and staff!

We then decided to take a quick swing by the Annie Fellows Johnston homestead in Pewee Valley, KY. Annie, an Indiana native before moving to Kentucky in 1910, wrote several children’s books in the early 1900s including a series around “The Little Colonel”. The book series was turned into a movie in 1935, starring Shirley Temple. We then did a little antique shopping and found an awesome mid-century carhop tray for the Rambler!

And, our final excursion of the day took us back over to Indiana to Charlestown State Park to visit the old Rose Island amusement park grounds. I love walking through the remains of this once celebrated park. It was THE place to come prior to the 1937 flood, which totally decimated the park.

For those that don’t know, Rose Island is very near and dear to my heart. I wrote a book a few years ago called The Lost Amusement Parks of Kentuckiana. In this pictorial book from the Images of America series, I explored the many Louisville and southern Indiana area amusement parks that thrived in the early 1900s. I’ve always had a fascination with this time period in America and amusement parks were in their heyday during that time.

If you’re interested in purchasing a book, you can do so on Amazon. I would greatly appreciate it!! ❤️