Raleigh parks offer old-timey amusement park fixtures

Families traveling along “U.S. 70 Business” through Raleigh can “double their pleasure” in the center of the city. Exit downtown to take a nostalgic spin on two good-time carousels that are located on opposite sides of the highway. 

For many, it’s a “bucket list brass ring bonanza.” Working carousels, or merry-go-rounds, are rare jewels in America. There are fewer than 400 that are still in operation, with 10 located in North Carolina.

 

The two in Raleigh are less than two miles apart, so it’s easy to ride both. Each carousel is delightfully unique, made by different manufacturers. 

Let’s start at Pullen Park near the North Carolina State University campus. In 1887, R. Stanhope Pullen, a prominent merchant and land developer, donated 80 acres of his property to the city to create the first public park in the state. 

The carousel was added sometime after 1915, so it’s well over 100 years old.

 

Its original Raleigh home was in a “trolley park” owned by Carolina Power and Light Company (CP&L) – known as Bloomsbury Park. The site was off Glenwood Avenue, north of “Five Points.” 

In the early part of the 20th century, utility companies promoted travel by electric trolleys, or streetcars, and they were well-utilized by commuters who were going to and from work Monday-Friday. 

To attract riders on weekends, the trolley companies created parks with amusements at the “end-of-the-line.” Bloomsbury Park even included a rickety rollercoaster, a penny arcade and an ice cream parlor. “It was our Coney Island,” one old-timer said. 

When CP&L shut down the park during World War I, the city salvaged the carousel. It was a beauty – built in Philadelphia by German-born Gustav A. Dentzel. His company was the premier maker of carousels in the United States. 

Today, the Pullen Park carousel features a menagerie of 52 hand-carved wooden animals, the work of master wood sculptor, Salvatore Cernigliaro of Italy, who joined Dentzel in 1903.

Cernigliaro was known for elaborate and imaginative designs. In addition to 30 horses, the Pullen Park carousel includes ostriches, cats, rabbits, pigs, a lion, a tiger and a goat. Their eyes are made of glass. (Surely, children would want to ride them all.)

 

The 24-foot diameter carousel is housed in a permanent wooden-beamed shelter of tent-like design. Music originally was produced by a Wurlitzer band organ. 

A “younger” carousel is located in John Chavis Memorial Park, which occupies nearly 29 acres near Shaw University. John Chavis was a prominent free black preacher and educator who was educated in Lexington, Va., and came to the Raleigh area in 1810.

 

John Chavis Memorial Park was authorized in 1935, as a project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal agency of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. 

The City of Raleigh paid $4,000 in 1937 for a carousel built by native Scotsman Allan Herschell of North Tonawanda, N.Y. (near Buffalo), to be the focal point of Chavis Park. 

The Herschell carousel at Chavis Park was manufactured between 1916 and 1923. 

The 40‐foot carousel contains 36 hand‐carved horses and two double‐seat chariots. It, too, had an original Wurlitzer band organ. All the horses are “jumpers,” meaning all four feet are off the carousel platform. Jumpers also go up and down on poles as the platform revolves.

 

Horses on the “outside row” (outermost ring of a carousel) are the largest and most decorated figures. This was because the outside row is the one most easily seen by spectators.

 

Ride tickets at each location are $2 per person. Hop on and enjoy.