Before The Great Escape: Rare Look at Storytown USA’s First Year

When it comes to Lake George history, especially the early days of Storytown USA and The Great Escape, few know more than Bob Carroll.

Carroll, born in Johnstown and a longtime Capital Region resident, now lives in Los Angeles.

His connection to Lake George runs deep: he worked for Charles Wood, the wealthy entrepreneur who founded Storytown USA, which would later become The Great Escape.

For over 20 summers, Carroll did just about everything for Wood—announcer, ventriloquist, magician, emcee—filling whatever role was needed in the park’s early days.

“It was the best of times,” Carroll recalls.

Some attractions from Storytown’s earliest days remain, but many are long gone. Most of us can’t picture what the Mother Goose–themed park looked like in the ’70s or ’80s, let alone the 1950s.

Thanks to Carroll, and photos his parents took when he was just 4, we can step back in time and see what Storytown USA looked like the year it opened in 1954.