Rocky Point. These two words evoke a myriad of memories and sentiment for anyone who grew up in the Weber County area. Even after a devastating fire destroyed the landmark structure in 1996, the large metal sign marked the site and pointed to what once had been. Now, the sign, which stood sentry for more than 40 years, has been removed.
Seeing the rocky hill without the familiar Rocky Point arrow “was an unexpected, emotional moment for me,” says Cydney C. Neil, daughter of Scott Crabtree, who created the original Rocky Point Restaurant. “The sign was just a big, old, rusted piece of metal, but the two words painted on it represent most of my life, with my family, as we spent our childhood building and running the restaurant, my father, as he taught me practically every lesson about life as we worked, created, celebrated and grieved together, the thousands of youth we had in our haunted house programs and nearly a million fans who visited it through the years.”
When Cydney posted about it on Facebook, she received hundreds of responses filled with sad emojis and many memories from those who remembered Rocky Point back in its day and the iconic sign that pointed to it.
Cydney’s family started building Rocky Point in 1963. She was just 4 years old. Four of her siblings were older, and she had a younger brother as well. “We all worked every day helping to put the rock mosaic bricks together that circled the entire building, as well as anything else my father asked us to do.”
When the building opened as a restaurant, Cydney and her siblings all worked after school to help out. Unfortunately, a devastating fire destroyed the restaurant in 1968, and Scott and the family left it to start another business.
After standing vacant for more than a decade, the building became the original site for the Rocky Point Haunted House. Started by Cydney’s brother, Neil Crabtree, in 1979, with Cydney taking over in 1986, the Rocky Point Haunted House provided a safe, creative outlet for thousands of youth and became world renowned as it welcomed nearly a million visitors over the years.
When the haunted house eventually moved to Salt Lake from the Rocky Point site, Cydney’s father, Scott Crabtree, restarted construction, and Rocky Point emerged again, this time as a cultural center and home for Crabtree’s hundreds of original artworks, fashioned mostly from discarded materials. Scott lived and worked at Rocky Point until 1996, when another catastrophic fire destroyed the entire site.
As Cydney recalls, “My memories of Rocky Point include some of the highest highs of success and the lowest lows of loss. I think the memories of the tragic losses and never seeing my amazing father reach his potential or seeing the rewards for a lifetime of sacrifice and effort, is what brought the tears again to the surface when I saw the sign had been removed. It felt final.”
Cydney is currently redoing a new, creative studio for herself in Salt Lake, and to keep Rocky Point and her father’s creative legacy alive, she is planning to use a large piece of the sign for a conference table and possibly some light fixtures. She also wants to cut and save some small pieces for the many diehard Rocky Point fans.
And although the last sign of Rocky Point is gone, Cydney believes the spirit of Rocky Point and all it stood for will forever live on through the many lives that were touched, affected and changed from being a part of it.
“Some day, I would love to see the new property owners and the community come together with us to erect a memorial or plaque somewhere on that rocky hill to commemorate my father’s vision, and celebrate his passion and tenacious spirit that drove his lifelong efforts, against all odds, to follow his dream.”
