FORKS TWP., Pa. — When Bushkill Park opened at noon Sunday, a line of people stretched toward the front gate, waiting to get in.
In this century, a new carousel might not always be the most likely draw for a crowd, but nearly everyone passing through the park’s gates headed straight for the newly-installed 1928 C.W. Parker.
- Bushkill Park unveiled a new carousel Sunday
- It was purchased in Georgia by a park volunteer and restored over two years
- The old-time amusement park in Forks Township goes back 121 years
It was more than an amusement park ride – it represented the return of a Lehigh Valley landmark more than a century old after years of closure and decay.
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More than a century of history
Bushkill Park was founded in 1902 as one of many parks built by trolley companies near the ends of their lines. More than 30 years later, Thomas Long placed a carousel on the spot, and with his wife Mabel shepherded it to become a local landmark.
In the mid-2000s, a series of floods swamped the park along the Bushkill Creek, damaging buildings and rides. Park officials said during the worst flooding, when the remnants of Hurricane Ivan soaked the area in 2004, much of Bushkill Park was nine to 10 feet underwater.
The cumulative damage forced the park to close after the summer of 2006. Its owners sold off most of the rides, and the park sat empty.
The park served as the set for a horror film in 2009. A photographer specializing in abandoned places stopped through in 2016.
“It was desolate. It was creepy. It looked lonely,” said Lynette Transue, of Easton. Her husband Charles Transue once worked at Bushkill Park; during their early teens in the late 1950s, the pair would visit every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
After more than a decade of disuse, the park began to reopen gradually in 2017, starting with its roller-skating rink. Rides began to return little by little to the park, and the fun house – among the oldest in the nation – was restored.
“When you walk in from the parking lot and you hear the kids laughing, that is such a happy sound,” Lynette Transue said. “It's nice to see the park active, people in it again.”
However, a sizable hole remained: a patch of open pavement in front of the roller rink where the park’s carousel once stood.
Finding a carousel
The latest addition to Bushkill Park began its life in 1928, by C.W. Parker of Leavenworth, Kansas.
It was designed as a “county fair”-style carousel, easy to disassemble and transport along the midwestern county fair circuit.
Fran McBride, who purchased the carousel, estimates it traveled many thousands of miles and was ridden by thousands of people over its time on the road.
For three decades before its move to Bushkill Park, the carousel sat in a pavilion attached to a pediatric orthodontist’s office just north of Atlanta, Ga.
“When you walk in from the parking lot and you hear the kids laughing, that is such a happy sound. It's nice to see the park active, people in it again.”
Linette Transue, Bushkill Park patron
Through a window, patients could see from the treatment area into the carousel pavilion. It was only used a few times a year, when neighborhood kids were invited for rides, sometimes to raise money for charity.
As the orthodontist, Michael Healey, and his wife, Linda Healey, prepared for retirement, they were looking to sell. Around the same time, one of the park’s volunteers was browsing Ebay for carousels, knowing that fellow Bushkill Park volunteer Fran McBride and his wife Jan were in the market for one.
Once the purchase was finalized, a crew in Atlanta disassembled the carousel and trucked it north to the Lehigh Valley.
“We thought we could just put it together and set it up,” said Jan McBride. “We had to do a little bit more to it than we thought.”
It took more than two years in all.
Each of the 20 aluminum horses were repainted, and the wooden deck was replaced with one that could handle staying outdoors. Support beams at the top of the carousel were replaced, along with parts of the drive system, and a new awning to cover it should arrive soon.
“For the legacy of the carousel to continue on since 1928, end up in Atlanta at my husband's office, and then end up here where kids can enjoy it every day – it's a miracle,” said Linda Healey. Her husband, Michael, died last year.
“It’s a gift to the community,” said Fran McBride. “It just brings a tear to my eye to see everybody enjoying it now.”