Styx River Water World, Loxley, AL

In Dec. 2002, while on the way to Palestinian Gardens in Mississippi, my brother, my niece, and I stopped at the remains of Styx River Water World in Loxley, Alabama. As near as I can tell, the water park opened in 1977 and closed in 1993. By the time we got there, it had been heavily vandalized, with many of the fiberglass statues that littered the park having been tagged, knocked over, or worse. I took a few slides, and we went on our way.

Years later I posted those images on Flickr, where they continue to get almost daily hits, usually from search engines, where people are (I guess) trying to see if there’s anything on the internet about Styx River. I did a little poking around on my own and found that (besides the tip that I sent to Roadside America) there’s surprisingly little info out there. I found a couple other pictures, and an Excel doc from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, showing elevated levels of coliform bacteria throughout the summer of 2001 (were they planning on reopening?) but that was about all.

There’s a Facebook group devoted to a 2009 employee reunion at the Loxley Civic Center, where I found this brochure page:

But after the 2009 reunion, that group seems to have gone dormant.

In 2010, I was back in that part of the states and revisited Styx River, coincidentally on the same day that the following post appeared on Roadside America:

Robertsdale, Alabama – Styx River Water World
Not worth stopping for. No visible statues and the area is totally overgrown. Bitter disappointment. [Corey, 12/21/2010]

I hadn’t seen the post before I left to go to Styx, but honestly, I wasn’t expecting to find anything. The ticket booth was still there, however, which had inexplicably somehow managed to survive. And for anyone willing to venture past the fence, there are a couple buildings and some other remnants that can be seen. Other than that, the weedy and overgrown parking lot is the only other trace of the water park.