New England Carousel Museum

About

Visit us in Bristol or Bushnell Park in Hartford. We host birthday parties & educational programming throughout the year! We look forward to your visit.

Story

The New England Carousel Museum was founded as a nonprofit educational organization in 1990, in Bristol, Connecticut. At that time, the Carousel Museum rented 10,000 square feet of space on the first floor of the restored 33,000 sq. ft. factory building at 95 Riverside Avenue and owned one carousel horse for our collection. We displayed a diverse collection of carousel art and memorabilia all of which was on long-term loan to the Museum. The growth of the Carousel Museum over the past 21 years has been astounding, and it could not be where it is today without the support of the greater Bristol community. What began as a dream with one horse is now a thriving, first-class institution, but still, there is room to grow.

Mission

The New England Carousel Museum is dedicated to the acquisition, restoration, and preservation of operating carousels and carousel memorabilia and the creation of new carousel material, for the education and pleasure of the general public.

As a a non-profit organization, our mission is to preserve and protect antique wooden carousels and carousel pieces.

We believe that the way to accomplish this task is through education. We are in the business of educating the children, who are the next generation of carousel lovers.