There were once thousands of wooden carousels across the country. But more than 100 years after many of them were built, there are only about 150 left.
And seven of them are still spinning in Massachusetts, including one of the oldest in the country.
“These rides are the only antiques that you can not only touch but throw your leg over and ride,” Patrick Wentzel, the president of the National Carousel Association, told USA Today.
Many of the wooden carousels were built between the 1880s and the 1930s. But by the 1970s and ’80s people were able to make more money selling the wooden carousel animals at auctions than maintaining entire rides, the newspaper reported.
The National Carousel Association was created in 1973 to try to maintain the ones that were left.
“We haven’t sold any carousels for 20 years now,” Wentzel told the news outlet.
See below for information on the seven remaining in Massachusetts.
Salisbury Beach
The wooden carousel at Salisbury Beach was originally built in 1909. It was moved to a new building in 2023. It includes horses, giraffes, camels and goats.
Nantasket Beach
The wooden carousel at Paragon Park at Nantasket Beach in Hull was built in 1928. It had to be revamped after a fire in 1963.
Sandwich
The wooden carousel in Sandwich is located at the Heritage Museums & Gardens. It was built in 1911.
Martha’s Vineyard
The nation’s oldest platform carousel is located on Martha’s Vineyard. It was built in 1876 and originally operated as an attraction on Coney Island. It was moved to Oak Bluffs in 1884.
It has hand-carved wooden horses with manes and tails of real horsehair and inset glass eyes.
Fall River
The wooden carousel in Fall River was built in 1920. It is located Battleship Cove on waterfront in Fall River.
Six Flags New England
One of these historic rides is located at Six Flags New England in Agawam. It was built in 1909 in West Haven, Connecticut but moved to Massachusetts in 1940.
It was restored to its original look around 1986.
Holyoke
The final wooden carousel is located at Holyoke Heritage State Park. It was built in 1929 and was once part of an amusement park on the side of Mount Tom, which closed in 1987.
There was an offer for $2 million to buy the carousel in 1987 but the owner “wanted to see it remain close to home,” the website states.
Through fundraising efforts, John Hickey, then the head of the Holyoke Water Power Company, purchased the carousel for $875,000, calling it “Holyoke’s Happiness Machine.”
It reopened to the public in 1993.
For the full list, click here.
