The Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum

On our way to Niagara we stopped in nearby Tonawanda at the Herschell Carousel Factory Museum. When I saw this place on Roadside America, it was a no-brainer!

I loved this room full of beautiful hand carved carousel animals. I especially like how they decorated them for Halloween.

Can I get a copy of this framed for my house? I thought the gift shop would be awesome but it didn't have anything that interested me. I wish they had postcards of the vintage carousel images!

Look at the witch wig! It cracked me up!

They had huge blown up photos of the factory through the years. So cool!

In the workshop they had horses in various stages of the carving process. Apprentices would carve the bodies and legs, and they master carvers would do the heads.

They have a huge collection of Wurlitzer music rolls and machines. They were so cool! I like the ones that have horns and drums attached. Their two carousels have Wurlitzer music, magical!

And lets talk about this photo! I LOVE IT! I want it blown up to wall size for my guest room! Look at that kid in the front with the cowboy hat! They had a little display of rides other than carousels and the Little Dipper was part of that.

Of course part of the tour is riding on one of their carousels!

You get a ride included in admission. And if you want more, I think they were 50 cents a piece. What a deal!

I picked this one to ride. 

We were the only two on the carousel and it was so fun! The old ones seem to go faster.

The carousel factory museum was a great little stop on our trip. I had planned to visit a kazoo factory too, sadly we didn't get to the town in time. Next time!