Just before leaving Roswell we decided to search for one more letterbox located within Spring River Park and Zoo, a little community park and small zoo, located on 34 acres near the center of Roswell.
(This charming purple cow was hand-carved in France)
The zoo and park are both free for all visitors and is a true gem for the citizens of Roswell. Besides the animals, which include native species of animals as well a few species from around the world, most that have been injured or are un-releasable into the wild. There is also a Children’s Zoo with goats, chickens and llamas, and a Livestock area with miniature horses and Longhorn Cattle.
(This peacock was walking across the parking lot in front of our van)
(Most of the animals were taking it easy in the shade on this very hot day, like this sleeping Bobcat)
There is also a miniature train that was added in 1976 to give rides around the park. The park also features a small fishing lake, covered picnic shelters, a play ground, a hiking trail along the Spring River, green grass and lots of huge shade trees, too.
But the pearl within the oyster is the antique wooden horse carousel located within the heart of the park.
This carousel is a real treasure is one of about a hundred left in the United States and features hand-carved wooden horses and animals from various artisans from all over the world.
What surprised me the most, was that the cost to take a ride on this treasure, and be transported back through history, was only $.25 a ticket!
Inside the Carousel barn, they had a copy of a newspaper showing some of the history of this carousel, along with photos.
But once we got home, I did more research on this site: National Carousel Association.
I have always had a love affair with antique wooden carousels. How about you? Do you have a favorite carousel or fond memories of riding carousels?
(This Rooster was hand-carved in France. Jen wanted to ride it, but it was just too big for her to climb up)
(So Jen chose this smaller rooster to ride instead)
Whenever we visit a new place, I try to discover if the area has a carousel so we can have a ride. My daughter and I could ride them all day and have done just that. Our local Amusement Park, Cliff’s, has a more modern carousel, and when we visit, my twinlings will go off and ride coasters, while Jen and I pretty much just sit on twirling, spinning ponies all day.
(I can see that I should have ridden a larger horse, or maybe that mega rooster, but this little pony reminded me of my Apache. Plus I can see how weary I was. It was getting so hot and we were all feeling the effects of the heat and some dehydration. Right after this ride we left the park and gorged on cold stuff at Sonic Drive-In)
Oftentimes when we have ridden, the carousel operator just lets us stay on, while other riders come and go. One of our local Malls has a modern carousel, too, but we haven’t been in years because I just don’t like Malls, plus they charge $2-$3 per ride and one ride is never enough, so it gets very expensive.
Anyway, this is the fascinating stuff that I discovered about the Spring River Park and Zoo Carousel:
*Park: Spring River Park
*Description: Spillman Engineering
*Carousel Class: Classic Wood Carousel
*Year Built: 1927
*Type: 3 rows, Park, All Wood composition
*Figures: 20 Jumping Horses, 1 Standing Horse, 1 Donkey, 15 Menagerie Animals (3 Roosters, 2 Deer, 1 Pig, 1 Rhino, 1 Zebra, 2 Dogs, 1 Ostrich, 1 Swan, 1 Tiger, 1 Lion, 1 Cow), 2 chariots
*Music: No Band Organ: Taped music
*Note: 2 chariots: Muller & Dentzel. International mix of figures inc. menagerie. Donated to city by Marianne Stevens in 1971.
*History: Rainbow Gardens, Wilkes Barre, PA, 1927 to 1971
Spring River Park, Roswell, NM, 1971 to present
*Directions/Hours: Park located at College & Atkinson Sts. Opens Easter weekend & runs through the last weekend of Sept. Hours 1-6 Wed - Sun
*Mailing Address: 1306 E College Blvd, Roswell, NM, 88201
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Both Jax and the flying Pig look very hot and tired.
This little deer was hand-carved in France
Isn’t this swan adorable? It’s just for the babies and toddlers to ride
Oh! If only we lived in Roswell, we would be visiting Spring River Park and riding the wooden carousel every chance we got!
See, there really is more to Roswell, New Mexico than just Little Green Men.
18 comments :
Your life is such a wonderful adventure.
Great pictures and the history of the carousel was pretty neat! I have always loved the zoo. It is so neat that you take the kids to so many places exploring.
I love the carousel too. Do you ride everything or just stick to your favorite?
How many letterboxes did you find on this trip? That's the best part of letterboxing= that it takes you to see all kinds of stuff.
How interesting and fun!
Great pictures. Roswell is a nice town and definitely more than little green men. I remember riding a carousel at Fair Park, a small amusement park close to our home when I was a little kid. It's long gone now so no telling what happened to that carousel.
Dan
I didn't ride many carousels growing up because of my motion sickness problem, but I visited the one on the Santa Monica pier a lot and they often came to town in carnivals. I think there was one at Griffith Park too. I was always fascinated with the details of each animal.
What wonderful, creative carousel animals! I love ones that are different and unusual. What fun to see your kidlets having fun!
Ah, letterboxing... I was sad. All of my letterboxing stuff is at the old house, so I didn't do any of it in San Francisco. Maybe next time! (Yeah, I could have gotten a new pad and made a drawing in the journals or something, but I hadn't done any research either. I'm bad!)
Oh my goodness, Lori, did you bring back memories. In this area we have had, for well over 100 years, a wonderful amusement park called Seabreeze. When I was a kid, we used to go there several times a year. I enjoyed all of the rides, but the carousel was my favorite. It was in a covered building, with the most marvelous prancing horses(magnets for a horse-crazy girl) and organ music that was played by a real Wurlitzer organ that had music rolls.
At first, I rode the prancing horses, but, as I got older, I stood on the outside, holding onto the metal poles, and grabbing for the brass ring. If you got one, you got a free ride. I got so good at it that I could usually ride as long as I wanted, for only the cost of the first ride. Unfortunately, the carousel and organ burned completely in 1994.
However, the park decided that, when they replaced it, they would do it right. No cheap, cheesy modern carousel for them. They had the original replicated as closely as possible, down to having a real carousel horse artist design and create the new horses, and a replica Wurlitzer organ of the same type as the original built.
Here is a link to a Youtube video about it, with long, loving shots of the new carousel. It's six minutes long but worth watching, if only for the wonderful music that plays all the way through.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH84oilQT3A&feature=related
I ought to go again, now that I'm an old lady. But, my memories are so clear, I don't know if I want to see what the park looks like now.
What a beautiful carousel. I love that you took the time to do a little research on it. I loved riding the carousel when I was little. On my first trip to Disneyland when I was three or four, the carousel was the only thing I wanted to ride! It was always my daughters favorite ride as well. Hmmm, might have something to do with our love of horses. The last wooden carousel I rode on was located in Santa Cruz, CA on the boardwalk. There is a very nice indoor carousel located at BoomTown just outside of Reno, NV. I might be wrong, but I believe it to be a wooden one.
I love carosels!!! the artistry and the history. They are just beautiful, the older ones are the best!!!!
Love the old carousels. I've always wanted a dappled grey carousel horse for the house. Don't ask why, I don't know. By the way your heels weren't down while you were riding your horsey. (just kidding)
I've always wondered how those big cats can sleep in a branch like that without falling over.
Beautiful carousel animals. I've not ever seen a carousel that nice.
You and NuzMuz inspired me to try letterboxing. While my husband was out of town, I stayed up very late and spent hours and hours making my own stamp. I'm not crafty or creative, but it turned out quite nice. I've found one box and hope to get out some more.
Very beautiful piece of history for sure! What a wonderful experience for everyone.
Ahh, I love hand carved carousels, haven't been on one in years. Did you ever watch the series "Roswell?" I LOVED that show (I was 19 when it came out) and totally wanted to move to Roswell, although I knew it was filmed in California. My hubby was always telling me that the real Roswell was nothing like the show. We drove through once, but it was almost dark and we didn't get to stop. Maybe next time.
I'm a big fan of carosels with more animals - beyond horses. What an amazing job it would be to build these. I imagine what it would be like to do one these days with some modern fairy tale creatures - the "horses" from Pandora, the centaurs from Narnia, etc...
I'm happy to see Apache back in your header.
Growing up on Keansburg boardwalk, I love carousels! There was a big one in a place called Penny Land. There was a big door on one side that opened out onto the boardwalk and another big door on the other side that opened out onto the street. We kids would run in, jump on, and ride it around to the other side, then jump off and run away! One time my cousin fell down and fell underneath it and they had to call an ambulance! He was okay. Just scraped up. Till we got home and I think a spanking was involved!
How fun! That sure looks like a neat carosel with all those different animals from around the world.
Now thats a cool carousel, they did a great job refurbishing it.:-)
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