Central Park Carousel/Thursday Doors

I don’t often walk across Central Park in its southern sections.  I walk across where I live, uptown, or walk down on the West Side if I’m going to Midtown.  So even though I had visited the carousel with my children when they were young (a long time ago…) I needed to consult a map to figure out its location.  But instead of walking along Central Park West, where I could easily locate 65^th Street, I rambled through the center of the park.

It was a nice day for a walk.  And I had no schedule to keep.

Despite looking at one of the maps posted in the park near the Dairy, I ended up turned around, walking for ten minutes in the wrong direction.  When I realized my mistake, I retraced my steps and went the opposite way.  There were no signs for the carousel, which I thought strange, but the music finally guided me to my destination.

the journey from there
follows a circle to here
but does not stay here—

we spin our years and try to
balance—neither here nor there

The first Central Park Carousel opened in 1871. There was some controversy about having a commercial enterprise within the park, but it proved so popular that it both remained and thrived. The original carousel was powered by a horse and a mule who walked on a treadmill in an underground pit. I don’t know which version this is; it was the only old photo of the carousel I could find.

Versions two and three were steam-powered. Both were destroyed by fire, the third in 1950. Its replacement was relocated from Coney Island. Number four, the current carousel, was crafted in 1908 by Solomon Stein and Harry Goldstein. It had been abandoned in the 1940s and was found in a warehouse.

The current carousel has 57 carved horses and two decorative chariots, which have been carefully restored. A new structure was built to house the horses in 1982, and the grounds around it were redone as well. It has lovely details.

Interestingly, the carousel was managed by The Trump Organization from 2010-2021. Mayor de Blasio voided all the city’s contracts with Trump in 2021 because of January 6 and the storming of the US Capitol. The carousel was closed at the time due to the pandemic; it reopened that October under the new management of Central Amusement International.

One of the largest carousels in the US, it carries 250,000 riders each year. Open 7 days a week, weather permitting, a ride costs $3.50, with discounts for multiple rides.

The Daytonian has a story about the carousel, a girl, and her lost doll, and also, as usual, a bit of history.

I wrote the tanka as a kind of golden shovel with the refrain from W3 PoW Sally’s poem, inspired also by the painting she provided by Winslow Homer, below. I then attached it to my prose for Colleen’s tanka prose prompt.

And find more doors, as always, at Thursday Doors, hosted by Dan Antion.

And of course this song by Joni Mitchell came immediately to mind.

Joni suffered a brain aneurysm in 2015, and only started performing again in 2022. So inspiring to discover her performance at this year’s Gershwin Prize Tribute.

There’ll be new dreams maybe better dreams and plenty
Before the last revolving year is through