Crescent Park a-Looff

Hurricanes have not been kind to the treasured landmarks of Rhode Island over the years. Take Rocky Point Park’s famed “Shore Dinner Hall,” which was destroyed during the Hurricane of 1938, rebuilt and destroyed again only 16 years later by Hurricane Carol in 1954. Across the bay from Rocky Point in Riverside sits the last functional remnant of another well-loved amusement park of yesteryear, Crescent Park. Crescent Park was also rebuilt several times after storms, but one unique attraction survived — a hand carved carousel built by Charles I.D. Looff in 1895. The music of the spinning spectacle of horses, camels and flying coaches can still be heard bellowing from the automated pipe organ on warm summer nights on Narragansett Bay’s east bank. The carousel is one of the few remaining examples of Looff’s work and has survived over 125 years of everything from the harshest New England weather to the wrecking ball that erased the rest of Crescent Park around it in 1979. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

If you look a bit closer around the former Crescent Park area, you can still find evidence of the old attractions. A walk along the shoreline will provide a view of the old boardwalk, where it’s easy to imagine hot summer days spent swimming. You can still spot the weathered stumps of pylons which once held up the dock for the steam ships that would bring park attendees from points up and down the bay. While most of the area is now parking lots, condominiums and open green space, a trip to the Looff Carousel and a little imagination will transport you to simpler days when the magic of amusement parks was only a trolley car or steamship ride away.