Painted Ponies

And the seasons, they go round and round.
Painted ponies go up and down.
--Joani Michell, The Circle Game

The other week was Ariel’s 23rd birthday; presents, restaurants and, as an improvisational treat, a trip to Glen Echo, Maryland for a carousel ride. Glen Echo is a little-known regional gem and one of those anomalies the National Park System takes perverse pleasure in administering. Started in 1891, Glen Echo was a Chautauqua assembly-a popular 19th century institution where working class people could learn the sciences, arts, languages and literature. The Chautauqua failed due to a rumors of malaria since it was so close to the Potomac and C&O Canal. Glen Echo then became an amusement park in the early 1900s. Streetcars ran from Georgetown upriver to the park. Buildings were replaced and added until, by the 1940’s and ‘50s, the park was the mid-century equivalent to Six Flags. Attractions included a pool complete with sand beach, bumper cars, a spinning ride called the CuddleUp (guaranteed to induce nausea in the most hardened of souls), and a huge rickety wooden roller coaster with a man-killer reputation. The park went bankrupt in the mid-60s and languished until taken over by the National Park Service who turned it into an arts and artists center.


Several of the old original Art-Deco buildings are still standing, including a corner of the Crystal Pool, largely sacrificed to become part of the Clara Barton Parkway (she lived next door in the town of Glen Echo), which parallels the river. The old shooting gallery, its far wall covered with stray bullet pock marks from the tethered .22’s that always pulled right, is now a set of art galleries. The bumper cars pavilion is an open air picnic area and contra dance space. The Spanish Ballroom, maple dance floor on huge springs to dampen the crash of feet, still echoes to music from community dances every Saturday night and the original stone Chautauqua tower is now the park office and book store.

The best item in the whole park, however, is its last operating ride, a 1921 Denzel Carousel, lovingly restored over the past 20 years. Horses, chariots, giant rabbits, ostriches, and even a tiger and lion pace their endless circles to a working calliope organ. Back when we lived in nearby Brookmont, a plan was hatched to remove and sell the carousel to a private interest. Locals all along the river screamed in protest and put together bake sales and whatnot to raise a matching price to keep the carousel in place. An art show/sale was one of the whatnots, featuring the carousel in various media. The first picture I ever sold was of one of the paired ostriches on the inner circle. I think I got $50 for it and promptly donated it to the fund. I still wish I could have afforded some of the other works, some of which were heartbreakingly beautiful.


The wooden figures on the carousel are hand-carved and near life-size (the bunny rabbits are somewhat bigger; sort of an "Island of Dr. Moreau" ride). Until restoration began, they were mostly a dingy shade of various browns and tans. Following rebirth, vibrant colors glow from within the figures, making them seem as live as the real thing down to the silver horseshoes.


In Disney’s Mary Poppins, Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dike, and assorted children jump through a chalk drawing into a delightful live/animated adventure. In the course of the sequence, they hijack the horses from an amusement park carousel and Mary Poppins wins a horse race. If they had taken the horses from Glen Echo, they’d be running yet.