History & local legend
Dorney Park’s former Mansion House began as Solomon Dorney’s home and restaurant, where he served trout raised in his ponds. Later, the Gold Mine walk-through attraction occupied the space beneath it. The park founder became the central figure in a ghost story about that basement attraction.
According to the tale, Dorney remained in his old home and disliked visitors passing through the rooms below. A collector writing as LC recalled hearing the story, and another published version explicitly connected the haunting to the attraction’s route under the mansion.
The Mansion House was demolished in 2005. Its location became a dining area near Center Stage, and recollections of the old Gold Mine describe tables positioned above its former entrance.
Sources
- LC, comment on Mrs. Muller and Her Wooden Horse, June 2009, personally relates hearing the Solomon Dorney story
- SilentThrill, Dorney Park, version attributing the haunting to the passage beneath the mansion
- The Morning Call, Nov. 16, 2005, article with former chairman Bob Ott’s recollections and the replacement plaza, preserved in the contemporary Theme Park Review discussion
- CoasterBuzz, contemporary recollections identifying the location of the old attraction entrance below the tables
- Dorney Park, official history naming the attractions and founder
- OpenStreetMap, replacement food stand beside Center Stage
