Built in 1927 by Edward Vettel, The Skyrocket served to entertain and thrill the residents of eastern Virginia & North Carolina for many decades. It usually had two heavy trains of iron-framed, wooden cars simultaneously on the track, which served a steady stream of passengers, and they would plummet down the first drop of probably 60–70 feet at a breathtaking pace. Shaking, rattling, and kicking up sparks over successive hills, drops, and tight radial turns, it often gave its riders the feeling that the cars would "skip the track" and send them flying in all directions.