Mel just touched on the history of Knott’s Berry Farm briefly in his previous article. Having worked for years off and on for the Knott’s people I can really appreciate it’s history. Most people don’t know that Walter Knott, Walt seemingly being a popular name for theme park pioneer’s, lived next to a botanist named, wait for it, Walter Boysen. He produced a new berry by cross breeding blackberries and raspberries that he called the Boysenberry. However he didn’t quite care for it. He sold the patent to the Knott’s family and Mrs. Knott’s used to sell boysenberry pies along with fried chicken from a roadside stand. This became so popular that they built the restaurant and later brought in real ghostown structures from the Mojave desert to entertain guests while they waited for the now famous Mrs. Knott’s  Chicken Dinner. Later came the stage coach and then the train and the rest is history. At least that’s the version of the story I remember. It’s sad that most guests today can’t appreciate that story.

I think that a lot of what we can expect in the future of the themed entertainment experience will have a healthy dose of looking back, or at least I hope so. Again I really enjoyed this article, my only criticism would be that I wish it was longer and went into more depth about the origins and history of this iconic park. Thanks Mel.