Located across the street from Silver Springs (SR-40 in Ocala, FL) was Six-Gun Territory. This theme park re-created a 19th century western town with actors playing shoot 'em up from rooftops & windows. There was even an old western duel that ended with one of the gunfighters getting blasted on his back. The comedic relief began when the coroner came out and tried to get the corpse in his coffin. Rigor Mortis was so strong he couldn't get the body in. THIS WAS GREAT FUN FOR THE KIDS!
There was also a Can-Can, horse rides, Indian camps and trading posts and air conditioned saloons for those hot summer days in central Florida. It's long gone, shutting the saloon doors in the mid-eighties. The gravel roads were still there under the scrub in 2006. A barber shop at a nearby shopping center has many artifacts and acts as kind of a museum for the departed theme park.
For those who can't get enough, visit the Six-Gun page on lostparks. Google Map it here!
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I remember a visit to 6-Gun in about 1966, I still have a badge from it.
ReplyDeleteI came across a box of slides from '66 of Six-Gun Territory. They will be scanned and available soon. Coincidence?
ReplyDeleteI worked there as a Can-Can dancer from Sept.'75 until early 1977. It was a GREAT job to have then....having fun and NO STRESS. Great people, great time...ah...memories.
ReplyDeleteI could have sworn I was there before 1960. does anyone know the exact date of opening?
ReplyDeleteopened Feb. 1963
DeleteI remember walking in along the tracks before the park was completed as my uncle knew one of the developers. That would have been very early 60's.. Don't remember exact dates as I war pretty young..
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone have the name and photos of all the actors ay six gun?
ReplyDeleteI just dont know why it closed maybe video games. I lived in Lake City and my Mom used to always take me and my sister there on our way to visit family in Ocala. I was a pro at collecting shells after the gun fights. A video game cant even come close to that.
ReplyDeleteit closed due to disneyland opening
DeleteIt closed because the era of westerns like Bonanza and Gunsmoke passed and there were not enough visitors to keep it open.
DeleteI use to love this place when I was a kid back in the mid '70's!!!! My parents would take my sister and me, my younger brother came along in '77, on our annual Florida vacation. My grandparents would always come along! We would go to Disney, Bush Gardens, Silver Springs and Six Gun Territory. We did this 4 years in a row from 1974-1978. Man those were my family's best vacation memories back in the '70's!!! Man I miss those days!!!! Thanks for all the memories!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI was there when it first opened with my parents. It was a true family adventure. Memories I'll never forget.
ReplyDeleteI believe the giant slide was my favorite, thanks for the memories!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI remember going to six gun when i was akid in the 1960"s it was super great. We made wanted posters of ourselfs. Took part in a gun fight. I wanted to take my grandkids. I hate that it closed. Seems like all good history parks are closed anymore.
ReplyDeleteSix Gun Territory opened on Feb. 2nd 1963 my Uncle Jack worked there as a Gunfighter with another student from UF to help fund his college tuition, they played Butch Cassidy and Sundance and later he took on the role of Sheriff of Six Gun.
ReplyDeleteWe lived in Gainesville just about 40 miles away and went there several times a year from the summer of 1966 till the park closed in Jan of 1984.
It was a major influence in my taking up the sport of Cowboy Action Shooting and I miss it and some of the other "Back Road Ammusement/Theme Parks" that we used to go to, they were truely Americana at it's best.
What a great place & a fond memory.
ReplyDeleteI thought the gunfight was real! The cowboys would come busting out of the saloon & would face off in the street. Wow, real excitement when you were a kid.
My friend Bill Nolte worked and was married at Six Gun. He's back in New Jersey now and would like to know what happened to the chapel and train. He is on facebook. I still get my haircut at Boots' barber shop in Six Gun Plaza and they still have some things from the park.
ReplyDeleteI have many fond memories of this place as a kid growing up my family went several times. I'm not sure of closing date but it seems like they opened for one night on halloween in 1983? when I was a jr. in highschool. I sure miss that place. Check out Ghost Town in the Sky in Maggie Valley, N.C.
ReplyDeleteI worked at Six Gun from 1971 to 1972 worked the amusement rides in Funland, i had a lot of great friends and memories.
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather Earl Ledford worked there too, he ran the Ferris Wheel!! If I remember right he worked there from 1970 to 1976, maybe later than that. He went by the his nickname Butch most of the time...
DeleteI worked as a gunfighter at Six Gun from 1977 to 1980. Miss that place, had a lot of fun and memories made. Would be nice to be in touch with Dennis, Stacy, Bill or anyone of the others that worked there at that time.
ReplyDeleteFrom the Orlando Sentinel 1/9/11 great article on six gun:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-six-gun-territory-20110109,0,5456996,full.story
msgt thomas kaye ret i would take my children there once a montit was the safest theme park i ever was in .. at times ,,when i got tired chasing and guiding them i would put the oldest in charge and lay down on bench ...when they got hungry they would wake me up to refuel energy then back to rides ,,,,alternatly we would go to marco polo park .....once disney came all theme parks died we used to have a little one at jax beach also so much for modernization now one must refinance home to go to disney was on tv cost for four for 5 days 4,500 dollars clad i lived and raised children when one could afford to attend parks..
ReplyDeleteRemembering the train ride and the gun fights. So cool...wish the park could have survived!
ReplyDeletemy big brother was a gun fighter at 19 when I was about 8 years old. what a blast to go see him there.
ReplyDeleteDid anyone know a gun fighter by the name of Wilson McCloud Jr.? I was trying to find a picture of him as he recently passed this week!
ReplyDeleteNever knew Wilson McCloud, but so many people worked there. I was a gun fighter, balladeer, gun fight caller and musician in the early 80's. The greatest people in the world worked there. Steve, Dennis, Bill Rada, Les Ballew, I am David Lewis, Chuck Horn. Bill Rada has passed on and so has Chuck Horn. I have not seen any of these guys for years. Oh, and Ken James, what a talent that guy had. Old memories. I loved it, best job I ever had. If anyone worked there, holler at me or e-mail Tandlmin@aol.com Facebook-David Horn
ReplyDeletenow in West Virginia
Hey, I've got some old colour snap shots I took as an 11 year old kid in 1967 of the place and some of the gun fighters.
ReplyDeleteBrent
My grandfather Earl Ledford worked there, he ran the Ferris Wheel!! If I remember right he worked there from 1970 to 1976, maybe later than that. He went by his nickname Butch most of the time. My brother and I would go to that park every time we visited my grandparents. The last time I visited Six Gun I was 8 or 9 years old back in 1976.....
ReplyDeleteThanks for this photo! I was lucky enough to have gone with mine, and my Uncles families (and all us cousins) in 1970. The though of it having been long torn down makes me sad. That's an awesome day from my childhood that I'll have 'til I die.
ReplyDelete