“What we want is to have a nice location for the whole family to enjoy,’’ Poirier said in an interview. “When I moved here 16 years ago, I used to take my kids to Starland, and it had a really nice family atmosphere. We’ve seen it slowly go downhill.’’
The park was owned from the 1960s to 2002 by Robert Kilmain, and longtime area residents have fond memories of childhood visits.
“People would come from everywhere to go to Starland,’’ said Hanover native Judy Greco, who cochairs the town’s Historical Society. “We used to go there all the time when I was a kid, because we lived close enough to just cut through the woods.’’
Greco said Starland offered miniature golf and a driving range, batting cages, and an arcade full of games. It also boasted a snack bar that sold burgers and hotdogs, fried clams, pizza, and “all kinds of ice cream.’’
Amusement of this type was a rare find south of Boston 50 years ago, unless one went to Paragon Park on Hull’s Nantasket Beach.
“We used to pick up the golf balls on the driving range,’’ Greco said. “They would pay us a dollar for a garbage can full, and we thought that was pretty good.’’
Starland would periodically invite Red Sox players as guest instructors, Greco recalled. “We’d go into the batting cages, and a Red Sox player would show us how to bat,’’ she said, adding that it was pretty exciting stuff for a Hanover youth in the 1960s.
Other residents, like Lorraine Burgio, recall taking their children to Starland in more recent times. “When they were in their midteens, they would go to play minigolf and use the driving range,’’ Burgio said.
Kilmain sold Starland in 2002 to businessman Christopher Walsh, who was not able to keep the operation in the black. In 2006, Walsh put the driving range portion of the property up for sale, but had no takers. The entire site was put on the market about a year ago, but a local bank took the property before a buyer could be found.
