Ride
the Iron Horse Express, play a round of mini-golf, or dine at the Smokehouse
Grill — there’s plenty of family fun to be had at Deadwood in Williamston.
The weekend has finally arrived. You’d love a change of scenery. The kids are
hoping for a new adventure. Where can you go that everyone would be happy? Try
Deadwood. It’s a family-owned
park with a western theme (hence, the unusual name) located about 25 miles
northeast of
“This was literally a backyard project,” says Ira Price, explaining how
Deadwood came to be. “There was no grand master plan. It just evolved.”
Ira, a retired United States Navy man, grew up in
They began building their golf course on the weekends while continuing to work
their regular construction jobs during the week. “As soon as we completed a
hole, we played it to death,” Ira says, emphasizing that the course was
originally intended solely for his family’s entertainment. That changed as the
project neared completion, and residents of the rural community talked the
Prices into opening the course to the public in April 1992. From that point on,
the project slowly has grown to include several family friendly attractions,
along with a full-service restaurant, The Smokehouse Grill.
Swinging and sliding
If you chose to visit Deadwood from an hour or more away, you’ll be pleased to
know that as soon as you arrive, kids can immediately work off pent-up energy
from the car ride at a well-equipped playground. Tried-and-true favorites, like
swings and slides, as well as a few new-fangled contraptions, like a miniature
climbing wall, can also accommodate adults, and Ira admits that his
granddaughter talks him into going down the slide about once a week. Just
outside the playground area, a small, three-horse carousel is guaranteed to
catch the attention of many children.
After swinging, sliding, and climbing to their hearts’ content, most kids will
be eager to refuel at the nearby ice cream parlor, which also serves hot
chocolate, cappuccino, and soft drinks. Although seating is available inside the
shop, somehow a cone of cookies-and-cream just seems to taste better outdoors
while seated on a wooden bench or at a picnic table. This gives you the perfect
opportunity to look around and really begin to appreciate the “Old West”
ambience created by the Prices — all of the buildings look like they were
taken straight from the set of a Western movie. In fact, Derek designed all of
the structures, and he and Ira did most of the construction, with Derek’s
siblings pitching in on the weekends. Because of the Prices’ experience in
construction, Ira says there were a lot of things they knew how to do. “If we
didn’t, we’d go buy a book or a video.”
Connected to the ice cream parlor is a building bearing a large “General
Store” sign. The exterior of this building remains true to the “Old West”
theme, with a wooden sidewalk running in front and two old trunks on either side
of the door, but inside it’s purely 21st century, with half a dozen video
games packed inside the small space. Children who are too old to enjoy the
playground may find the arcade more to their liking.
Next, it’s on to the Gold Mine Mini-Golf course, the place where Deadwood got
its start. Because there is no admittance fee to the park, there is a cost of $2
per person per game. “We try to make it affordable for everyone,” Ira says.
Iron Horse Express
No matter where you are in Deadwood — whether on the ninth hole of the Gold
Mine course or inside the ice cream shop wrestling with the decision of
strawberry versus peach — if you have a toddler in tow, there is one sound
that will likely bring your activities to an abrupt (albeit temporary) halt: the
train whistle.
The Iron Horse Express, powered by a Ford commercial industrial engine, takes
visitors on a half-mile ride through wooded portions of Deadwood that have been
peppered with props, including a variety of animal statuary. From the open-air
cars, passengers are sure to spot a wolf, a fox, a bear or two, and even an
armadillo. The train doesn’t run on a set schedule, but fires up upon customer
demand. It costs $1 per person to ride, and children aren’t the only ones who
enjoy it: You’re never too old to claim a seat on the Iron Horse Express.
In the coming months, several new attractions are scheduled to open at Deadwood,
including a kiddie roller coaster. Plus, a spot has been staked out for a
carnival-like tubs-of-fun ride, a shelter has been built to house a gem-mining
operation, and the infrastructure is in place for canoe rides.
The Smokehouse Grill
While the additional rides and amusements promise to be popular with kids,
Deadwood already has the attraction that’s most important to adults: The
Smokehouse Grill. There’s no better way to end the day than with a good meal,
and at The Smokehouse Grill, the quesadillas are cheesy, the ribs are smothered
in a tangy barbecue sauce, and the rib eye steaks are marinated before being
grilled to customers’ specifications.
The restaurant opened in 1997 (the same year Ira and Derek gave up their
construction jobs and made Deadwood a full-time pursuit), at a time when one of
the main attractions at the park was a nightclub, hosting big-name acts like
David Allan Coe and Delbert McClinton. When Ira and Derek realized folks were
leaving the concerts and heading to
Although the nightclub was quite successful for several years, the scheduling of
music acts was gradually phased out, as the park became more family-oriented.
The facility that once served as a concert hall is now used for numerous other
purposes, like birthday and holiday parties and dinner theater shows. Halloween
is a major event at Deadwood, and for several days every October, the former
concert hall is transformed into a haunted house, and the territory through
which the Iron Horse Express runs becomes decidedly more spooky.
When Derek and Ira Price built a backyard mini-golf course nearly 20 years ago,
they never envisioned that it would blossom into a business enterprise. Today,
they devote the bulk of their time to running, expanding, and constantly trying
to improve Deadwood. The Price family promises to take care of all of the work
— so all your family has to do is play.
By Kathy Grant Westbrook
Courtesy of Our State Magazine
December 2007