Home  Carousel News & Trader June 2009 Nunley's Carousel Returns to Long Island
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Nunley's Carousel Returns to Long Island |
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Written by Administrator
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Wednesday, 07 October 2009 |
By Gary Grasso
Special to The Carousel News & Trader
Nunley’s Carousel and Amusements was a small park on Sunrise Highway in Baldwin, NY, on Long Island. It was a local landmark in Nassau County for decades that will always be fondly remembered by everyone who visited. Over the years, the park added more rides, like the Ferris wheel, kiddie boats and hand-cranked cars, but the center attraction at the park was always the carousel.
It’s been nearly 14 years since the cherished ride stopped turning. On Saturday May 2, 2009 the carousel opened again for many more generations to enjoy.
The early years
Like many carousels, finding any details of where the carousel first
spun is foggy at best. We know the carousel was owned by William
Nunley and that prior to moving it to Baldwin in 1940, the carousel ran
at (or just outside) Golden City Amusement Park in Canarsie, Brooklyn.
Golden City Amusement Park opened in 1907 and had plans to become large
enough to rival Coney Island. The park never achieved this goal, but
it was well loved by the local community. In 1939, the last buildings
at Golden City were torn down to make way for the new Belt Parkway. We
don’t know exactly when this carousel first ran in Golden City Park, or
if it ran anywhere else before it arrived at Golden City, but we hope
to find more clues to the puzzle.
In 1940, Nunley opened this carousel on Sunrise Highway in Baldwin
across from the Baldwin train station. It is unclear if he also moved
the building or simply built a new one using the same plans as the
Golden City Park building. Either way, the carousel would remain here
for the next 55 years.
The carousel changed hands from the Nunley to the Lecari family in
1964. The Lecari’s owned and operated the amusement park until 1995
when they decided to retire. They closed the amusement park, sold the
land and put all the rides up for auction, including the carousel. To
make sure the carousel (and band organ) was not sold off in pieces,
Nassau County legally seized the carousel just before the auction.
Although the carousel was saved from the auction block, it wasn’t until
10 years later that there was enough interest (and money) to move the
project forward. County Legislator, Joseph Scannell, secured $420,000
for the carousel restoration and additional funding came from the local
friends group “Pennies for Ponies.” The then nine year old Rachel
Obergh started Pennies for Ponies to get local schools involved with
saving a piece of Long Island history. The idea was to have a school
sponsor the restoration of a horse (or lion) for $2,000 (200,000
pennies). To date, Pennies for Ponies has raised over $94,000 towards
the restoration and upkeep of the carousel.
 Rachel Obergh, who worked as hard as anyone to bring this precious carousel back to Long Island, enjoys a well deserved ride.
After a long battle over where the carousel would be placed, it was
decided that Museum Row in Garden City would be its new home. Nassau
County appropriated $1.5 million for the new carousel pavilion, which
is located between the Long Island Children’s Museum and The Cradle of
Aviation Museum on Charles Lindbergh Blvd. The 6,700 square foot
building is heated for year round use and is equipped with a fire
protection and suppression system. Coincidentally, the site of the new
carousel pavilion is less than 100 yards from where it was stored for
12 years.
Restoration
Although the carousel is widely referred to as a Stein and Goldstein it
was really a mixed machine. The majority of the 42 figures are
S&G’s, but there are also 14 second and third row Illions horses
and 4 outside row Dentzel, figures including the impressive Gustav
Dentzel lion. The Nunley family operated a few amusement parks in the
New York area and owned many carousels. As one figure was removed for
repair or painting, another figure from the barn would replace it.
They weren’t concerned that the replacement was from a different
carver; to them, “it was just a seat on a ride.” Since it is a mixed
machine, it is difficult to put a date on it, but the manufacturing
date most often associated with this carousel is 1912. Although, this
date is probably consistent with the S&G carvings, many figures on
the carousel predate 1912. The lion dates back to about 1895 and the
Illions figures are from his Feltman period (1900 – 1909).
Nassau County selected the artisans of Carousel Works for the
restoration. Carousel Works has restored over a dozen antique carousels
and is the largest manufacturer of wooden carousels in the world. On
August 9, 2007 the pieces of Nunley’s carousel were loaded up and
transported it to their workshop in Mansfield, Ohio. The total
restoration took 16 months to complete.
Each figure was carefully documented to see if original paint could be
detected under the layers and layers of park paint. It was determined
that the figures were stripped at one point in time and that no
original paint remained, except for the chariots. The two chariots
have identical dragon and Indian head carvings and were restored to
their original colors. The front seat of one chariot was modified so
that it could accommodate a wheelchair.
The restoration of the figures unveiled some interesting findings. We
were hoping that stripping the figures would reveal hidden details that
were deep under park paint and it did. It also revealed that the
Illions jumpers were all converted from standers. Experts have
suggested that the muscular legs on these jumpers are more consistent
with the S&G carving style; they are not consistent with the
typically smooth legs of Illions figures. Could these figures have
been refurbished in the S&G factory? We hope one day to find out.
It was determined early on that instead of replicating the old scenery,
new scenery would be used that highlights the history and points of
interest in Nassau County. The artwork on the rounding boards and
scenery panels were in very poor condition and in many cases beyond
restoration. So now the rounding boards have paintings like Charles
Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis flight, Belmont Park racetrack and
Teddy Roosevelt’s home, Sagamore Hill to name a few.
For many years the carousel had two band organs around the center; a
Wurlitzer 165 and a Wurlitzer 153. The larger Wurlitzer 165 was sold
off in 1980 and is now in a private collection, but the Wurlitzer 153
band organ remained with the carousel. Don Stinson was subcontracted to
do the band organ restoration. Besides getting the band organ to sound
its best, Don introduced an electronic midi system. The band organ can
now easily be switched from playing the 150 paper rolls to playing
music from the midi player and back again. Using the midi system helps
with maintenance and the day to day operation of the band organ, no
paper rolls to change and less moving parts to maintain. The first tune
to be played on the band organ after restoration was Waltz #1 (Nunley’s
Carousel) by native Long Islander Billy Joel. Billy wrote the
instrumental as a tribute to the ride he enjoyed as a child. The piece
was arranged by Bob Stuhmer to play on Wurlitzer 150 rolls.
The carousel also came with a ring machine which was also restored by
Carousel Works. This will be one of a dozen or so carousels in the
country with an operating ring machine. The ring arm bears the
nameplate of the ride manufacturer, W.F. Mangels.
Like a carousel ride itself, the history of this merry-go-round has had
its ups and downs; from the decades of joy that it brought, to the
closing of a landmark. Up again when the carousel was saved from the
auction block and down while it remained in storage for 12 years.
Finally, to a young girl who helped raise money and awareness, things
are looking up and Nunley’s carousel is spinning once again.
This carousel has attracted a great deal of attention, from the local
media to a film crew making a documentary. Once people found out that
I was involved with the restoration, they all said the same thing, “I
can’t wait until it opens“. Not because they thought it was an
exceptionally beautiful carousel or because it is worth a lot of money,
but simply because it was part of their childhood. A magical thing
about carousels is that it immediately transports you back to happy
times. It is hard for anyone to talk about their carousel memories and
not smile. I am very thankful that I was able to be a part of this
project. I was the project manager for the restoration, I designed the
carousel pavilion and most importantly, I heard lots and lots of
carousel memories. It’s been a fun ride.
For more information, go to www.cradleofaviation.org or The Long Island
Children’s Musem site at www.licm.org to help plan your visit.
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