Wildwood, NJ – A Stein & Goldstein carousel seems to be the last wooden carousel to ride on the Sportland Pier. Once known as they Yankee Doodle Carousel in the 1950s and ’60s, the figures appeared on a different frame on the pier in the 1970s, and then eventually the wooden Stein & Goldstein horses were replaced with fiberglass reproductions before the carousel disappeared all together…
Photos from my scrapbooking days showing the Stein & Goldstein horses on the Sportland Pier carousel in the late 1970s. These horses may have been transferred from their original frame to this newer one with Bertazzon panels, assembled by The Ramagossa Bros.
A Visit Back to Wildwood, NJ, and Sportland Pier
Riding with the Rabbit Column, CNT Sept. 2012
by Richard Concepcion
You’ve heard the saying how some folks never die, they just fade away? This summer, I have seen that happen with a carousel that actually had been fading away for decades.
I’ve already mentioned this ride in an earlier column about spotting where old carousels used to be. But, even after the last remnant of that merry-go-round disappeared from this New Jersey shore town, I was rather surprised to see another one reappear very recently.
Every summer I enjoy spending weekends on the Jersey shore, although the number of great amusement resorts here on this part of the Atlantic seaboard has dwindled over the past half century. Of those that are left, only two still have classic carousels. There is the Dentzel-mix menagerie, named in honor of Dr. Floyd Moreland, at the Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, and PTC #75 at Gillian’s Wonderland Pier in Ocean City. The latter town sits on the northern end of historic Cape May County. Further south, on the way to the geographical Cape May, lies the city of Wildwood, another still-bustling amusement resort that had shed the last of its classic carousels over the past 25 years. Today, the amusement landscape in the Wildwoods is kept alive and up to date through the efforts of the Morey’s Organization, which has redeveloped several of the piers in the resort area and packed them with popular rides that attract thousands of fun-seekers every summer. Two of Morey’s three piers each have modern Bertazzon double-decker Venetian carousels…
READ THE WHOLE STORY ONLINE FREE >>>
