Frye's Lake Lanes bowling alley was/is still on a large area of land. It changed many times over the years, but they always kept the bowling alley.
The main building had 10 lanes for a long time, then added 6 more after they got rid of the slot car racing. There were 2 rooms on that side of the building -- a really large one with a huge raised table slot car track. Next to that was a daycare for the customers to use while they bowled, raced slots, or whatever. The daycare used to be slots, too, but they made it a daycare after the slot car interest started to drop.
The opposite side of the lanes was a Roller Rink. Kind of smallish for a rink, but it was enough until it wasn't. Then they built a new rink in a separate building. I spent so many Saturdays there! My mom could drop my brother and me off before the rink opened, We'd skate until we were bored or the rink closed, then walk to the bowling alley and bowl until my mom picked us up. If the owner wasn't around, the manager would only charge us for one or two games after bowling as many as 10 sometimes.
We'd eat at the snack bar, and we'd hang out and stay out of trouble --- mostly. My sister was the youngest, so if she stayed, we'd go bug her in the daycare.
The place was called Lake Lanes because Mr. Frye built a huge lake between the bowling and the roller rink. It was really nice. Concessions, slides, all kinds of playground type platforms to jump from, ... Almost like being at the beach, only with more stuff. Behind the bowling building was a set of train tracks. They ran an old timey locomotive with open seat cars. They had a few animals in pens to stare at as the train went around. The whole ride went through a wooded area, so it was pretty cool.
After the mid 60s, my mom took us to the lake and said it would be the last time. She told us the lake was closing the following week. This was right after the civil rights marches (riots in some areas). I remember some tense nights when there was talk of potential violence in our town, but I can't remember anything ever happening. Turns out, Mr. Frye was a bit of a racist. This was North Carolina, so not unheard of. He learned the new laws would make him allow "negroes" (the accepted term at the time) to use his lake. He said he'd never let "them" swim in his lake, so he closed it. My mom said he had some idea that they would make it harder to keep the lake clean. I was young and never quite understood what was going on. It was all "grown up talk" to me.
I saw Mr. Frye in person a few times. Never really liked him. Something about him was scary to me as a little kid. The manager of the bowling alley was Coy Drye. Very nice man -- almost a father figure since we were there so much. Always looked out for my brother and me when my grandmother was busy serving snack bar customers.
It's amazing how much time we spent on that property. So much to do. So many changes. I pretty much grew up there.
I don't see that kind of amusement property much anymore. Wet'nWild is close, but it's so expensive. Plus, I'm not sure I'd leave 3rd or 4th graders there on their own.