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Ride
The Carousel at the Burlington City
Park
 Photo:
The Burlington Merry-Go-Round with hand-carved animals is a treat to ride.
(Photo, courtesy the City of Burlington, NC.)
The Burlington, North Carolina, City Park Carousel is a three-row Dentzel
Menagerie Carousel built around 1906-1910 by the Dentzel Carousel Company in
Philadelphia, Penn. The City of Burlington purchased the carousel for $3,500 in
1948 from Carl Utoff, the owner of Forest Amusement Park in Genoa, Ohio. Utoff
purchased the machine around 1924 from Locust Point Amusement Park in Oak
Harbor, Ohio.
There are 46 hand-carved wooden animals including 26 horses,
four ostriches, rabbits, pigs, reindeer, giraffes, lions, tigers and two
chariots. These animals are hand-carved out of bass and poplar wood and are a
hollow series of boxes and wood pieces glued together into the basic shape, and
then carved by hand. The Dentzel carvers were noted for their realism with the
carving of the veins and muscles of the animals. The eyes are made of glass with
true pupils, and the tails are real horsehair.
Burlington's antique carousel
is one of the 6,000 or so that were carved around the turn of the century. Of
those, about 150 are still in operation today. The National Carousel Association
(www.nca-usa.org) has more information about these wonderful old rides and
photos of many on its website. NCA also has an ongoing project to photograph old
carousels and post them on its website. Currently, it has photos of ten
carousels there. NCA welcomes your help in adding to its archive so everyone can
enjoy and appreciate their great carvings.
Other antique carousels you can
visit in the Southeast include:
- Highland Park, Meridian, MS - the only
remaining 2-row Dentzel stationary machine.
- Trimper's Rides, Ocean City, MD
- Herschell-Spillman menagerie-type carousel in its original location.
- National Cathedral, Washington, DC - a U.S. Merry-Go-Round stationary machine
and one of two still operating.
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