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| About the Carousel | The only carousel owned by the US Government on behalf of its people |  |
| Pictures of the Carousel | Find the Animals (not just the horses) and ring the starting bell | |
| Music from the Carousel | RealAudio from the Wurlitzer organ - play some music while visiting the park website - or at any time while surfing | |
| Restoring the Carousel | An amazing detective story | |
| Catch the Brass Ring | A little game | |
| Get a carousel wallpaper | Save it in your browser as your Windows desktop wallpaper (1024x768 pixels, 140 kbytes) | |
The carousel operates May to end September,
weekends 12:00am to 6pm.
May to August Wednesdays and Thursdays 10am to 2pm. July and August Fridays 10am to 2pm.
During Glen Echo's heyday as an amusement park, the Dentzel carousel was the jewel of the park. An afternoon outing was not complete without a ride on the elaborately decorated carousel. Today the historic carousel - one of the country's finest - is still a highlight of an excursion to Glen Echo Park. Visitors of all ages delight in riding the intricately hand-carved animals, savoring a slice of history as they go.
Endangered Species
When the popularity of urban amusement parks declined in the 1960s, many carousels were dismantled and sold piece by piece to collectors. Rescued from this fate by a group of local citizens in 1970, the Dentzel carousel is one of only about 135 functioning antique carousels in the country and one of the few still in its original location.
Protecting this rare treasure from wear and tear while using it for public enjoyment is a challenge. Craftspeople and National Park Service staff constantly repair and maintain the complex machinery, the band organ, and the canopy building that houses the carousel. In the mid-1980s restorers began the time-consuming process of returning the carousel and its animals to their original brilliant appearance. The restoration work is completely supported by donations from carousel riders and other private citizens. The initial restoration was completed in 2003.
Dentzel Carousels
The Glen Echo carousel was manufactured by one of the country's foremost carousel builders, the Dentzel Carousel Company. In 1860, young Gustav Dentzel, son of a carousel maker in Germany, came to the United States and founded his company in Philadelphia. His son, William Dentzel, carried on the family business until 1929.
Dentzel carousels were known for their realistic, graceful animals and elaborate carvings. Carousels of this style were usually housed in specially built pavilions in beautiful park settings, often at the end of a trolley line, as was Glen Echo. This Dentzel was installed in a 12-sided canopy building in 1921.
Animal Artistry
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Artisans created the Glen Echo carousel using production-line methods. They shaped the various parts of the animals - head legs, tail - and fastened them with glue and dowels to the hollow wooden body. A master carver did the finish carving, making sure that all the parts blended together in a pleasing appearance. Artisans applied a base coat of white paint and finished the animal with brilliant colors and sometimes gold leaf. Then they added a protective coat of varnish. |
 Lead horse showing romance and plain sides |
The Glen Echo carousel is called a menagerie carousel because it has many different animals. The 40 horses, 4 rabbits, 4 ostriches, giraffe, deer, lion, and tiger stand in three concentric rings, with the romance side - the more highly carved and decorated aspect - facing out and the plain side facing in. The carousel also has 2 circus chariots. Some of the Dentzel animals have distinguishing features, such as the arched manes and carved wooden horseshoes on the horses. Although there seems to be no beginning or end to the circle of animals, there actually is a lead or king horse. Look for the most intricately carved animal. There are some other interesting liasons in the procession. What animals do you think the rabbits team up with? or the ostriches? |
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More than one thousand lights sparkle from the carousel, reflected in the mirrors on the rounding board (the overhead canopy) and on the inner drum. More examples of Dentzel artistry - jesters, cupids, and flowers - encircle the plaster rounding board. The panels on the inner drum, which hides the mechanical workings, are painted with decorative scenes. |
Saving a Local Treasure Visitors to Glen Echo enjoy the park and the Dentzel carousel today because of a remarkable public effort. At the end of the 1968 season, Glen Echo Park's owners announced that the amusement park would close. To prevent further development of the area along the scenic Potomac River palisades, the federal government acquired the site in April 1970 and later placed it under the care of the National Park Service. The community rallied to support the acquisition. In just one month that same year, local residents mounted an aggressive campaign that raised $80,000 in private funds to buy the carousel from an organization who had purchased it after the park closed. An additional $10,000 assured the return of the Wurlitzer organ. The carousel and organ were donated to the National Park Service with the understanding that they would remain at Glen Echo Park and be operated for public enjoyment. | |
See the outer row go round while listening to the music.
Ring the bell anyway! Click the play button |
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Click here to select a tune from the carousel. (A new browser page will be started so that you can leave the music playing and come back here while the carousel pictures are loading).
| Glen Echo Park brings
you the music from the Wurlitzer Organ.
The carousel turns to the music of a Wurlitzer band organ, which was installed in 1926 and is a rare attraction in itself. It operates much like a player piano, using perforated paper rolls. From the 256 wooden pipes flow the sounds of an orchestra with viola, bass, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, violin, flute, flageolet, and piccolo. The organ also has a glockenspiel, castanets, a cymbal, and snare and bass drums. Only 11 Wurlitzer organs of this style are known to exist. The organ had a major renovation in 1978 to bring it back to its original specification and is now serviced every year.
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As you stroll or picnic in the park during the summer months the sounds of the organ are a background reminder of the park's past function - Washington's major amusement park at the end of the trolley line. Visit the real park to ride the carousel and hear it live. Open from the beginning of May until the end of September (exact dates vary), weekends 12:00noon to 6pm. May to August Wednesdays and Thursdays 10am to 2pm. July and August Fridays 10am to 2pm.
Select a tune from the carousel
With the advent of mass production techniques and materials such as metal and fiberglass, the arts of handcarving and painting almost disappeared. For financial reasons, amusement parks began to repaint and repair their own carousel figures, often using just two or three colors, and adding bolts, nails and screws. Before restoration the carousel animals at Glen Echo had up to 10 layers of paint over the original vibrant decoration.
Restoring and refurbishing the carousel and its animals after years of alterations like these is a slow, painstaking process. Just one animal can take from 150 to 200 hours of intensive effort. Rosa Patton Ragan who specializes in carousel and carousel animal restoration, worked on the Glen Echo animals and other sections of the carousel from 1983 until it was completed in 2003.
Ragan began with some meticulous detective work, cleaning small, 2-inch by 4-inch portions of the surface until she finds the original paint layer. She creates 40 to 50 of these sample areas all over the animal, first softening the paint with a hair dryer or a heat gun on low temperature and then using a small scalpel to scrape away the layers. As she progresses, she carefully documents what she sees with notes, drawings, and photographs. From these "windows" of original paint she can plot the colors and design and reconstruct the animal's initial appearance. Ragan next removes the paint from the entire animal until she reaches the first stable layer. She then prepares the surface by coating, filling, sanding, and smoothing until it is ready to accept a new finish. Then she applies the paint, matched to the original brilliant hues, and up to five coats of varnish to protect the animal from the wear and tear of use.
Among the first animals to be restored after a major effort to complete the restoration that was initiated to celebrate the carousels 75th birthday were two ostriches and a horse. They were returned to their places on the carousel on April 22, 1997.
By the end of April 2003 all of the carousel's 52 animals had been restored. Horses, along with the giraffe, four ostriches, four rabbits, the lion, tiger, and deer plus two chariots, the ceiling panels, and the scenery on the central drum had also been restored. Most of these were restored to an earlier paint layer; the animals were repainted to their original hues. One of the horses, a stander in the outer row, has been stripped back so that at least 85% of its original paintwork is exposed. The remaining 15% of this horse has been touched up to match the original paint. This horse is a true museum piece and is not available for rides.
The magnificent rounding boards with jesters and mirrors were cleaned and analysis performed so that they could also be restored to the original colors.
While the band organ facade was being restored it gave a rare opportunity to see the insides of the organ which has now been covered again and appears briefly during the once a year serviceing before the carousel opens for the season.
To protect this valuable masterpiece a state-of-the-art fire suppression system was installed during the spring and summer of 2000.
The same public spirit that kept the carousel at Glen Echo Park helped to restore it to its original beauty. The costly process must continue to keep it in prime condition continues through the support of park visitors and friends. Tax-deductible donations and a portion of ticket revenues go into a special Carousel Restoration Fund. The Dentzel Carousel is an irreplaceable example of a vanished craft, an enjoyable experience for people of all ages, and a cherished community landmark.
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Full details of the restoration with over 500 color photographs can be found in the book Restoring the Glen Echo Park Carousel that can be purchased from the Glen Echo Park Partnership that manages the programs at the park. Proceeds from sales of the book go directly to the carousel maintenance fund. For further details of the book and how to order it see the Partnership website or the book website. |
This game is still displayed at the carousel but no longer operates.
Last Updated:Thursday, 16-Dec-2004 11:09:42 Eastern Standard Time
http://www.nps.gov//archive/glec/caro/carousel.htm
The Dentzel Carousel
