BGuthrie Photos: MD -- Glen Echo Park

MD -- Glen Echo Park:

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1. GLEN_030414_45.JPG: The carousel is one of the central features of the park. This except from the Washington Post is by Mary Jane Solomon. VISITORS TO Glen Echo Park this weekend can be among the first to ride a horse of a different color. Actually, they can choose from 40 galloping steeds, four loping ostriches, a quartet of prancing rabbits, a rearing reindeer, a stately giraffe, a roaring lion and a majestic tiger, all looking as resplendent as the day they arrived more than 80 years ago. In a transformation that, for merry-go-round enthusiasts, rivals Dorothy's journey from sepia-toned Kansas to Technicolor Oz, the former amusement park's Dentzel carousel boasts a menagerie that was changed from a sea of dull brown to a shiny rainbow of hues. This metamorphosis didn't happen overnight, however: It took 20 years of painstaking labor and research, completed primarily by Rosa Patton Ragan, a North Carolina-based artist whose love of working with wood and paint led to a career in carousel restoration. The completely renovated carousel opened Thursday, and its 83rd season officially kicks off this weekend with a family celebration on Saturday. Full-blown restoration started five years ago after an anonymous donor contributed $500,000 to the cause. Now, each hand-carved wooden animal bears an authentic, distinctive look. A caramel-colored horse wears a saddle adorned with metallic green eagle heads and feathers of red, gold and orange. A dappled white mount sports a garland of red roses. The orange-beaked ostriches kick up their yellow legs beneath plumage varying from cream to pink to blue-green along with gray and black. "People are really excited. I think they love the bright colors and how shiny it is," says Katey Boerner, executive director of the Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture, a nonprofit organization that oversees the historic park and its renovation. Visitors are noticing the differences among the animals, she says, and "all of the decorative detail is really popping out." The vibrant critters are only part of the completed project. Ragan also refurbished the second of two griffin-adorned chariots, completed the final panel of artwork on the round interior wall that hides the ride's gear mechanism and painted the remaining unrestored ceiling panels and rounding boards, the decorative panels that circle the carousel's exterior. Overall touch-up work completes the dazzling total effect. "In a way, it's almost better than when it came from the factory . . . because this is a loving restoration," Boerner says of the ride, installed in 1921 during Glen Echo's heyday as an amusement park, which people reached by riding the trolley from the District. Beginning in 1983 with the carousel's "Indian Horse," Ragan annually transported animals to her studio, where she gently scraped away layers of paint and varnish to reveal the carved creatures' true colors. "The main goal of the restoration was to restore the carousel to its original color and design," Ragan says. "Everything had two to 10 layers of other paint on it." Repeated varnishing over time gave all the animals the same brown hue, creating an antiqued look that completely hid the initial painted designs. Working for about a month per animal, Ragan stripped layers in small patches, usually rectangles a couple of inches in diameter. After opening enough "windows" to reveal the original hues and patterns, she got to the "fun" part of the job: repainting and varnishing the pieces to resemble their original appearances. But she purposely left sections of the first paint exposed here and there on several animals, creating a visual scavenger hunt of sorts for sharp-eyed riders. Ragan also restored the ride's ceiling panels, which, at about seven feet in length apiece are much larger than they appear to riders. Once obscured by slapdash polka dots, the curving center wall panels now display their original panoramic landscape paintings, some of which remind Ragan of wooded areas along the Potomac. Assisted by her husband, artist Ron Rozzelle, along with carousel assistant Lisa Fahlstrom and the Puppet Co.'s Mayfield Piper, Ragan spent weeks on-site restoring the ride's intricate decorative accents, such as rosy-cheeked cherub faces, scrolled flourishes in shades such as coral and teal with gold-leaf trim, and bronzed, lifelike laughing jesters. While they'll no doubt be delighted over the carousel's new look, longtime riders should be just as pleased to see that some things haven't changed. Tickets still cost 50 cents, and they're still sold by Irene Hurley, now 81, who has operated the ride with son Max for 25 years. In addition to taking tickets and maintaining the equipment, Max creates music rolls for the original Wurlitzer band organ. This season's lively new tunes will include movie themes, polkas, waltzes and ragtime pieces.
2. GLEN_030414_68.JPG: This door leads to the area where the Crystal Pool had been. You'll notice in the next picture that there's nothing left behind the facade.
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Wikipedia Description: Glen Echo Park, Maryland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Glen Echo Park is a public park in Glen Echo, Maryland. It is managed by the National Park Service as part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway. It began in 1891 as a National Chautauqua Assembly and operated as an amusement park until 1968. As of 2007, the park hosts an arts education program and is also known for its antique carousel, its Spanish Ballroom and its historic electric street car and its annual Washington Folk Festival.

The park is near to several notable sites such as the Clara Barton house and the C&O canal. Glen Echo used to be a trolley park accessible by the street car system; the park was designed to be the last stop on the cars so people could go there after work. The original park had several attractions, including bumper cars, shooting galleries, and an expansive rollercoaster. The park also had a large pool, the Crystal Pool, the remains of which can still be seen today, and a shooting gallery, which was stopped in WWII because of ammunition shortages.

The Park Carousel:

The last operating park ride, and the highlight of the park today, is a 1921 Dentzel three-row menagerie carousel with 38 horses, 2 chariots, 4 rabbits, 4 ostriches, a lion, a tiger, a giraffe, and a prancing deer. The carousel operates from May through September, running from 12 to 6 on weekends and 10-2 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays all season and Fridays in July and August. In its heyday the carousel sported an operating brass ring game, in which daring riders could reach out and pull a ring out of a holder next to the carousel. Grabbing a brass ring would win the lucky rider a free ride. The brass ring arm is still visible today, although it no longer operates.

The face of the carousel had changed greatly since 1921, with the animals, rounding boards, inner drum panels, and band organ receiving several new coats of park paint over the years. An installation photograph from 1921, as co ...More...
Atlas Obscura Description: Glen Echo Amusement Park
Bethesda, Maryland
Once home to seven different roller coasters, Glen Echo has undergone many transformations since its founding in 1891.

Since its founding in 1891, Glen Echo Park has undergone many transformations. The park initially served as a site for the National Chautauqua Assembly, which was an American cultural and education movement popular at the turn of the 20th century. But after rumors spread that mosquitoes were transmitting malaria in the area, the Chautauqua closed up shop in 1898 and the site was transformed into an amusement park that operated until 1968.

During that seventy-year period, Glen Echo was home to seven different roller coasters. The remaining structures from the park, such as the arcade and the “Cuddle Up” teacup ride remind visitors of the art deco architecture popular in the area in the 1930s. Not much else is original: The Crystal Pool had been filled in and is covered in trees and brush, but the impressive gateway entrance remains. Still, new layers of paint and other restorations have kept the appearance of these standing structures fresh.

The park is also known for its custom wood-carved Dentzel Carousel that has been restored to its 1921 state and still operates on a limited schedule.

During the era of the trolley car in Maryland, Glen Echo Park was the last stop on the line, serving as a popular destination for post-work family leisure. A trolley car from the era remains out front underneath the neon Glen Echo sign.

The above was from https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/glen-echo-amusement-park
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Directly Related Pages: Other pages with content (MD -- Glen Echo Park) directly related to this one: [Display ALL photos on one page]:
- 2012_MD_Glen_Echo: MD -- Glen Echo Park (81 photos from 2012)
- 2005_MD_Summer_050910: Glen Echo Park -- Event: Summer of Change (119 photos from 2005)
- 2005_MD_Glen_Echo: MD -- Glen Echo Park (50 photos from 2005)
- 2004_MD_Glen_Echo: MD -- Glen Echo Park (60 photos from 2004)
- 2000_MD_Glen_Echo: MD -- Glen Echo Park (6 photos from 2000)
Same Subject: Click on this link to see coverage of items having the same subject: [History 1800s (excl wars)] [History 1900s (excl wars)] [Park (National Park Service)]
2003 photos: Equipment this year: I decided my Epson digital camera wasn't quite enough for what I wanted. Since I already had Compact Flash chips for it, I had to find another camera which used CF chips. That brought me to buy the Fujifilm S602 Zoom in March 2003. A great digital camera, I used it exclusively for an entire year. Trips this year: Three-week trip this year out west, mostly in Utah. Number of photos taken this year: 68,000.
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