Lake Winnepesaukah shuts down for six months each year, but the women who run the North Georgia amusement park barely slow down.
“We go from working seven days a week (in season) to working five days a week,” says Tennyson Dickinson, who, with her sister, Talley Green, represents the fourth generation of family ownership at the 98-year-old attraction.
Lake Winnie opens on Thursday, May 4, with what Dickinson calls its “signature attractions” all spiffed up and ready to go.
“The Cannon Ball, opened in 1967, is a classic wooden, out-and-back roller coaster,” she says. “We’ve given it some extra time and attention this (past) winter, and our carousel boasts 68 hand-carved, hand-painted horses. It was built in 1916 and came to our park from Atlanta in 1967.”
Then there’s the park’s oldest original ride — the boat chute, built by the sisters’ great-grandfather, Carl Dixon, which opened in 1927. The sisters say Dixon bought the 78 acres on which the park stands — and 186 more — in 1924.