Horseabout

Piazza della Repubblica in Florence, Italy

Panorama of the historic Pullen Park Horseabout.

Historic Pullen Park Horseabout

On Saturday, Raleigh will reopen the historic horseabout that's been a centerpiece of Chavis Park for decades. Officials hope that more families from across the city will flock here as they do nearby Pullen Park.

Downtown Raleigh, NC's Winter festival has a neat little horseabout this weekend.

Few pictures of Hurricane Sandy captured both the enormity of the disaster and the unquenchable spirit buried deep in the city’s core better than the image of Jane’s Carousel, the glass-enclosed merry-go-round on the waterfront near the Brooklyn Bridge, taken at the height of the storm. The photo shows the dark water lapping at the horses’ hooves, with the eerie blacked-out lower-Manhattan skyline in the background, and the festive riderless ponies twinkling merrily in the bright yellow light.

The Pullen Park carousel dates from about 1900, making it one the earliest Dentzels still in operation. Its paramount feature is a menagerie of 52 hand-carved wooden animals, the work of chief carver Salvatore Cernigliaro. Cernigliaro was known for elaborately executed and imaginative designs; in addition to 30 horses, the Pullen Park carousel includes ostriches, cats, rabbits, pigs, a lion, a tiger and a goat. The 24-foot diameter carousel is housed in a permanent wooden-beamed shelter of tent-like design. Music originally was produced by a Wurlitzer band organ.