Grab The Reins: Smithsonian Carousel Reopens On National Mall

WASHINGTON, DC – The painted ponies are running again: After a three-year restoration, the Smithsonian’s carousel has reopened on the National Mall.

The first carousel was installed on the mall in 1967, according to the Smithsonian. By the 1980s, however, the original carousel, built in 1922, had begun to deteriorate, and the institution began looking for a replacement.

They found one in the hand-carved, 1947 carousel from Baltimore’s Gwynn Oak Amusement Park. The beauty had been stuck in storage after its original park closed down. For the past four decades, its horses, chariots, sea monsters and pigs have entertained kids and adults on the mall around which so many Smithsonian museums stand. Now, after three years of renovation and a new paint job, the carousel is back on duty.

Read more here.