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America's amusement industry emerged from simple swimming ponds, family picnic areas, and community gathering spots. Although the first major entrepreneurial-driven amusement resort, known as Jones Woods, grew from the banks of New York's East River in the 1800s, the Golden Age of American amusement parks began with the mid-1800s development of a Brooklyn peninsula into "America's Playland": Coney Island. Coney paved the way for other developments, including America;s oldest continuously operating amusement park, Lake Compounce in Bristol, Connecticut, and the defunct Rocky Point Park in Warrick, Rhode Island.By 1893, and the opening of the Chicago World's Columban Exposition, Americans were becoming familiar with the marvels of the midway.