Bushnell Park Carousel
Bushnell Park, Jewell St
Hartford, CT
A 1914 carousel of hand-carved horses and a booming band organ, turning in what may be the oldest publicly funded park in the United States.
Tucked into a pavilion in downtown Hartford's Bushnell Park is a working carousel from 1914, one of the finest surviving examples of the American golden age of carousel carving. Its 48 horses gallop in place around a central mechanism, hand-carved with flowing manes and jewel-studded trappings, accompanied by the full-throated music of a restored Wurlitzer band organ.
The carousel is a survivor. Built by the celebrated New York workshop of Stein and Goldstein, it spent earlier decades elsewhere before being rescued, restored, and given a permanent home in Bushnell Park, itself a pioneering piece of American landscape history. Today a ride costs only a token, a small price for a spin on a century-old machine that still runs the way it was meant to.
What Guests Love
- Riding a genuine hand-carved carousel from 1914 for the price of a token
- The 48 leaping horses and two ornate chariots carved by Stein and Goldstein
- The full, brassy sound of a restored Wurlitzer band organ
- Its setting in a green downtown park beneath the State Capitol's gold dome
Worth Knowing
- The carousel is seasonal, typically running spring through fall, so check ahead
- Rides cost only a token, making it one of the best cheap thrills in the city
- It is housed in its own pavilion, which keeps it protected and cool on hot days
- The surrounding Bushnell Park is a landmark in its own right and worth a stroll
Details
Hartford, CT
Learn about Bushnell Park Carousel
A masterpiece of the carving era
The carousel was built in 1914 by the Artistic Carousell Company of Solomon Stein and Harry Goldstein, immigrant craftsmen in Brooklyn who were among the great names of the Coney Island style of carousel carving. Their horses are known for their spirited, muscular poses and lavish detail, and the Bushnell Park machine shows off that style with 48 jumping horses and two decorated chariots.
This period, the early 20th century, is considered the golden age of the American carousel, when skilled carvers produced animals that were as much sculpture as amusement ride. Relatively few of these hand-carved machines survive intact and still operating, which makes the Bushnell Park carousel a genuine artifact of that lost craft.
Rescue and a permanent home
The carousel did not begin its life in Hartford. Like many such machines, it operated at other amusement grounds before falling out of use, and it might easily have been broken up and sold off piece by piece, the fate of many golden-age carousels. Instead it was acquired, restored, and installed in Bushnell Park, where a pavilion was built to shelter it.
That preservation effort saved not just the horses but the whole ensemble, including the band organ that supplies its music. Housed and cared for, the carousel now turns as a beloved fixture of downtown Hartford, ridden by generations of local children and by travelers who stumble happily upon it.
The band organ
Part of the magic is the sound. The carousel is accompanied by a Wurlitzer band organ, a mechanical instrument that plays rolls of music with pipes, drums, and cymbals to produce the bright, brassy fairground sound that defines a classic carousel ride.
Restored along with the horses, the organ fills the pavilion with music while the carousel spins, and it is a large part of why a ride feels like stepping back a hundred years rather than simply going around in a circle.
Bushnell Park itself
The carousel's setting is historic in its own right. Bushnell Park, laid out in the 1850s and championed by the Reverend Horace Bushnell, is often cited as the first publicly funded park in the United States, predating even New York's Central Park in the idea of a city buying land to create a public green for its citizens. It was designed by Swiss-born landscape architect Jacob Weidenmann.
Today the park rolls out below the ornate State Capitol with its gold dome, and its landmarks include the brownstone Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch, a Civil War monument you can walk beneath. A visit to the carousel pairs naturally with a walk across the park and a look up at the Capitol on the rise above.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Hartford
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
About half a mile, a 3 minute drive
The oldest continuously operating public art museum in the United States, opened in 1844, with a deep collection spanning European masters, American painting, and the Hudson River School.
Mark Twain House and Museum
About 2 miles, a 7 minute drive
The elaborate Gilded Age home where Samuel Clemens wrote his greatest books, preserved with its original interiors and a companion museum.
Connecticut State Capitol
About a quarter mile, a short walk
A gold-domed High Victorian Gothic landmark overlooking Bushnell Park, open for tours of its ornate chambers and halls.