A few weeks ago I found the perfect place in which to set my story. The bulk of the story takes place at a fair. Since I decided that the story would take place in New Castle, PA, I decided to google parks in that city.
New Castle has a great park called Cascade Park. The park has a waterfall and a wonderfully rich history. Researching the park also helped me work out some of the problems I was having with the story.
The park has a waterfall, a dance pavilion and a stage. All of which are going be featured in the story. The park also used to have a trolly car in the neighborhood. I love street cars. They are kind of romantic and bring up wistful images of a bygone era when life was simpler and somehow more pure.
Ok, no such time ever really existed, but I wouldn’t be much of a writer if I didn’t at least try to convince you it that I thought such a time was possible.
But back to streetcars. The city I grew up in still had trolleys when I was a little girl. They stopped running them after I was maybe 5 or 6, but I do remember riding one. Many years later, they tried to bring the trolley back and made it a sort of trolley/subway. It only runs from the south end of town into the city where it has 3 stops underground. It’s more like a ground level L train like the one in Chicago than it is a streetcar, but it is still pretty cool.
My next plan is to take a quick road trip to New Castle and check out the park. I want to get some pictures, check out the waterfall and the stage.
Maybe if I’m lucky, I may even find old trolley tracks poking through the pavement.
Wish me luck!
