Livin' in the Wild, Wild West of Ocean City

One of the highlights of the family summer vacation to the beach was always a trip to a local western theme park.  Frontier Town, outside of Ocean City, Maryland catered to families with younger children who wanted to get a glimpse at life in the wild west.

Western shows were big in the late 1960s.  If one wasn't a fan of the Barkley family on Big Valley they could always catch up with the Cartwrights on Bonanza or the fine people of Dodge City on Gunsmoke. I was partial to the Barkley's of Stockton, CA.  Barbara Stanwyck was a no-nonsense kind of matriarch and young Lee Majors was handsome even to 7-year-old me. 

Frontier Town offered a live glimpse into the wild west I knew from television.  A few times a day there was a staged gunfight on the wide dirt road that welcomed visitors to the town.  After watching the sheriff take care of the bad guys on the main drag we would grab a stagecoach ride in anticipation of being stopped and robbed by a trio of thieves in the woods.  Later on in the day, we'd be sure to get on the open air train just so we could once again be frightened by a pack of robbers in search of cash.

Year after year we'd visit this frontier getaway and year after year the show never changed.  The odd thing is none of us seemed to care.  Even today, when I drive by the new and improved Frontier Town RV Resort and Campground I can't help but smile as I think of all the robberies we survived and all the fun we had out west.