The New England Carousel Museum

[rolanni]

So, Steve and I decided to drive to our Principal Speaker gig at PhilCon in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, because. . .new car, mostly, and also?  If we drove, rather than take the train, and left a day early, we could stop in Bristol, Connecticut and take a couple hours to tour the New England Carousel Museum, which I've been trying to figure out how to accomplish for years, by which I mean, "before Carousel Tides was published."

Bold scheme formed, we deliberately drove into Connecticut, through Hartford, which I never willingly do, and so to Bristol, where we found the museum right where we were promised it would be, at 95 Riverside Avenue (Rt 72).

We'd budgeted a couple hours for the tour.  Honestly, we should have budgeted a whole day.  Still we had a blast, and our tour guide, Cindy Mulcahy, added much to the experience, with her enthusiasm and obvious love of all things carousel.

We rushed madly about, trying to see All The Things, and took, like, a zillion pictures (with permission).  Instead of overburdening this space with them, I collected the pictures off of my camera into a Pinterest album, right over here.

The moral of the story is:  If you are or find yourself on the East Coast of the United States, and you have even a small interest in carousels/carousel animals/carousel art/the science of restoration,  you will find it worth your while to go to the New England Carousel Museum.

Comments

[bandicoot.livejournal.com]

As a kid, I lived close to the Excelsior Amusement Park (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excelsior_Amusement_Park) in Minnesota and spent a fair amount of time there (including working there part of one summer). It had a great 48 horse Philadelphia Toboggan Company carousel from the 20's. The park was closed in '73, but a few things were moved and the carousel was one of them. It's still in use at Valleyfair Amusement Park (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valleyfair) in Shakopee, MN.

[attilathepbnun.livejournal.com]

Eeeek! Great Ghu, *through* Hartford?! As in on the actual *streets* rather than on the highways?! *feels faint*
Once again, you provide proof that you and Steve are braver than the average writer!

[drammar.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing those amazing pictures. I do hope to get there in person some day.

[margotinez.livejournal.com]

I grew up riding the carousel in Balboa Park in San Diego. I'm happy to report it is still operating: here's the blurb from their website (which also offers ticket cost, hours of operation, etc.):
Balboa Park Carousel
The 1910 Balboa Park Carousel, adjacent to the San Diego Zoo, is a menagerie of animals and all but two pairs are original with hand-carved European craftsmanship. Also original are the hand-painted murals surrounding the upper portion of the carousel and the military band music. This carousel is one of the few in the world still offering the brass ring game for everyone taking the 5-minute ride.

Here's some more: This antique carousel built by Herschell-Spillman in 1910 still has nearly all of its original animals (only 2 have been replaced). It received the National Carousel Association’s first Historical Carousel Award.
So if you ever find yourself out here, don't miss it. Thanks for bringing back wonderful memories.