A merry-go-round ride always takes me back to my childhood, but did you know that the popular kiddie ride actually once served as a romantic ride for adults?
Visitors learn facts like this and much more about the history and art of carousels at the Merry-Go-Round Museum in Sandusky, Ohio!
The idea for the museum, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, came when the U.S. Post Office issued a set of stamps celebrating the art of carving carousel horses in 1988. One of the stamps featured an animal from the historic Kiddieland carousel at Sandusky's Cedar Point Amusement Park, and the park hosted a first-day issue ceremony.
The group borrowed the city's then-vacant former Post Office building for a display including two of the four carved animals featured on the stamps: the King Armored horse created by artisan Daniel Muller in 1925 for the Kiddieland Carousel and a rare carved deer created in 1895 by Gustav Dentzel.
The successful showing sparked the establishment of a non-profit corporation that purchased the old Post Office and established the Merry-Go-Round Museum.
The Museum officially opened on July 14, 1990.
The building retains some traces of its former identity as a Post Office and is also on the National Register of Historic Places.
The museum houses many carousel carvings, and visitors can see skilled carvers in action as they create and restore carved figures in a small workshop on the museum's first floor.
Carvers create a new carousel horse each year as an auction prize with the proceeds going to support the museum.
You can learn about how the carousel started as a training device for knights during medieval times as they practiced jousting with rings attached to a moving target.
The carousel evolved into a fast-moving ride for adults during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries before operators began slowing rides down as they became popular with younger riders.
The highlight of any visit to the Merry-Go-Round Museum has to be taking a few spins aboard its full-sized carousel with a menagerie of carved carousel animals for a fast-paced ride.
The museum purchased the frame of a vintage 1939 Allan Herschell Carousel in 1991. Museum staffers and volunteers cleaned, refurbished and repainted the structure, repopulating its re-built platform with a collection of vintage and contemporary carved figures owned by, or loaned to, the museum.
The United States once had 6,000 wooden merry-go-rounds, but today the museum's carousel is one of approximately 200 such rides operating in the country.
Several of the carved carousel animals owned and/or housed at the museum, including the 1895 Gustav Dentzel deer, became an integral part of the White House's 2014 "A Children's Winter Wonderland" display in the East Room. An estimated 65,000 visitors viewed them before they returned to the museum.
The Merry-Go-Round Museum is open 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and noon until 5 p.m. Summer hours are 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon until 5 p.m. beginning on Memorial Day and running through Labor Day.
You can also connect with the museum on Facebook.
Don't forget! Each admission includes a token for one ride aboard the museum's merry-go-round!
Thanks to the Lake Erie Shores & Islands Visitors Bureau for sponsoring my visit to Sandusky, providing lodging, meals and admission to attractions for my review, with no further compensation. I was free to express my own opinions about the stay and experiences, and the opinions expressed here are mine.
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