Only several years ago, the grand old park, countians' prime getaway for almost 100 years, was wasting away, its buildings disintegrating into sawdust.

Efforts to get the county or West Lampeter Township to buy the 17-acre property off Millport Road for a public park failed.

A handful of developers circled.

But then Sam and Elaine Stoltzfus, a couple who had never set foot in the amusement park growing up, but with nostalgia in their heart, drove by and bought it on a whim.

The owners of Keystone Wood Specialties haven't looked back.

On May 1, Rocky Springs' 149-year-old mansion house opens as a bed and breakfast inn. It's reincarnation is only the first completed step in an ambitious project to restore nearly two dozen buildings from yesteryear.

The former park's signature 12-sided carousel building -- the one that housed the carousel that is destined for Lancaster Square -- is being lovingly refurbished and will likely be incorporated into a wedding and reception park the new owners are planning.

The grounds and other buildings may be rented out for business meetings, reunions, art shows, church retreats and the like.

"All the old buildings will be restored. None of them will be torn down,'' vows Sam Stoltzfus, who has sunk $600,000 into the refurbishing so far -- mainly just to shore up the buildings from years of neglect.

The couple worked with the township to change the property's zoning from residential to open space so the mostly wooded site won't be developed when they're gone.

*** The mansion was built in 1855 by Michael Trissler, a city butcher who ran it as a hotel and came up with the Rocky Springs name.

Use of the scenic spot as a community gathering place dates to at least 1870, when, according to the Stoltzfuses' research, a German beer festival was held there.

The pastoral grounds with a bubbling spring hosted a German music festival with lively dancing in 1871. From 1898 through 1923, up to 10,000 missionaries gathered annually on the grounds.

The area was used primarily for group picnicking and likely contained a few pavilions.

Rocky Springs soon developed into a boating and swimming resort along the tree-lined Conestoga. There was even a floating boathouse. Swimming was discontinued, possibly after a typhoid outbreak, in the early 1900s.

A 2,000-seat theater was added and vaudeville shows played there. Prohibition advocate Carrie Nation led a rally there in 1903, the same year a trolley line to the park from the city opened.

Also springing up were several dance pavilions and rides. The first carousel arrived, housed in a large tent.

Through the years, many more amusement buildings were added along a midway. The domed carousel building was erected in 1923.

The Crystal Pool opened in 1921. Ironically, the swimming pool also led to the park's ignominious closing. Owners shut down the park in 1966 rather than allow access to blacks.

New owners Ben Brookmyer and Mary Corthouts opened the amusement park briefly in 1979. But with the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island, a gas crisis and a polio outbreak among the Amish all occurring that year, the timing couldn't have been worse.

Much of Rocky Springs' rides and memorabilia -- even the Fun House -- were auctioned off piecemeal in 1984. A 22-acre section of the property was sold for the Riverbend condominium complex. During construction, the namesake springs, long shaded by a Victorian gazebo, dried up.

The Stoltzfuses, who live less than a mile away from Rocky Springs, would motor by the forlorn ghost of a park from time to time.

Though they had no childhood memories of Rocky Springs, both come from longtime Lancaster County farm families. Both were alarmed at the rate of development sweeping through the county.

"We knew that many people in Lancaster County have many fond memories and deep connection to Rocky Springs and we just didn't like the idea of all that being stripped away,'' Elaine says.

One day in 2001, she remarked to Sam: "I keep driving by there and hoping I don't see a for-sale sign on it.'' Sam took it as a sign. They spent a half-day walking the grounds and negotiating with the owners. The next day, they brought their three children for endorsement.

Then they bought it, for $541,000. "That was how quickly it happened,'' says Sam. "It was an impulse thing without a plan at all.'' Over the next three years, the couple has had plenty of reasons to question spontaneous decisions.

A sewer line to replace the park's antiquated septic system hit solid rock and ended up costing $140,000.

The roof on the carousel house had holes so large you could see the sky. It cost $60,000 for a new curving roof. Elaine has put in about 200 panes of glass among the building's 1,440. She still has a couple dozen to go.

Dripping water ruined the building's once-polished natural wood floor. It will have to be replaced.

Sam is toying with putting in a rotating floor. Great for a wedding reception, he thinks. He can also picture the airy building as the setting of an art exhibit.

Thus, out of nothing, the vision has taken shape.

The old park manager's house, outside of which a former owner used to doze each afternoon -- soon to be a cottage suite with a Jacuzzi and fireplace for the B&B.

The concrete pad where the skating rink once stood -- parking for 50 to 75 vehicles.

The old trolley station, silent since the cars stopped rolling in the 1940s -- spruced up to be admired.

The old restaurant -- a conference room for youth or church groups, or businesspeople.

With new sashes, the windows again lift up in the soda fountain building.

The long history, memorabilia and vintage photos of Rocky Springs may be displayed in the old popcorn stand.

A stream, waterfalls and mature trees on the grounds might be incorporated into a garden wedding park likely to include a gazebo for the ceremony, room for a pitched tent and the carousel building for a reception.

The mansion has been restored and updated.

During all the work, hardly a day goes by without someone stopping by and asking if they can walk around for old times' sake.

The Stoltzfuses hope to hold an open house at Rocky Springs for the public sometime in June.

And that keeps the couple's restoration plans steeped with meaning. "I can't see ever financially reaping out of that property what we're putting into it,'' Elaine says.

"The rewards will hopefully be eternal. We just wanted to use this property for the church community and the community as a whole, just to be a blessing and remembrance and part of history saved.''