Carousel Interlude: The Adirondack Carousel

Now that we're already in for the second snowstorm of the season here in upstate New York, I am thinking back to my summer vacation and how nice it was when I could go outside and enjoy the world. One of the most exciting things that happened on my vacation was randomly stumbling upon this beautiful carousel in Saranac Lake, NY back in August. Anyone who read my blog back in its brief heyday of regular posts in 2011 (yeah, I'm talking to you, audience of like two people) will remember my love of antique wooden carousels with carved horses or, ideally, many different animals. I wrote about the ones in Millville, PA and Myrtle Beach because they are such beautiful works of art. So it was a huge surprise to discover this wonderful carousel full of unique carved wooden animals in the remote Adirondack location of Saranac Lake. As you can see in the photos, these are not your typical carousel animals! A skunk, rabbit, turtle, raccoon, duck, fly and multiple fish were some of the creatures you can ride here!

This one-of-a-kind carousel completely mystified me, but then I learned that it is a modern carousel crafted in the antique style. It only includes animals that are found in the natural habitats of the local Adirondack ecosystem! The animals are hand-carved by artists, just like the antique animals were in the early twentieth century, the only difference being that these are living artists who donated their talents to carve the animals a mere decade ago as part of a community project. I love that this project attempted to keep the tradition alive. I thought that nobody cared about old carousels but me.

This is the sort of thing I would have made a special trip to go and see, so it was incredibly lucky that we just happened upon it while wandering around the sleepy town of Saranac Lake after hitting the tiny Robert Louis Stevenson Museum. We went to the Adirondacks to explore Lake Placid, but this carousel turned out to be the highlight of the trip!

I love carousel animals so much that I have started a Christmas ornament collection of them. Right now I have a giraffe, polar bear, and horse. If I ever leave the apartment again this winter, I plan to get another exotic carousel ornament. They really add pizzazz to my tree.