Flying Horses Carousel

The oldest continuously operating platform carousel in the United States

Address 15 Lake Avenue, Oak Bluffs

Built in 1876 in Coney Island and brought to Oak Bluffs in 1884, the Flying Horses Carousel is the oldest continuously operating platform carousel in the United States. The painted horses gallop on a polished hardwood floor; the music is from a Wurlitzer band organ; the smell is of popcorn and old wood.

The signature game is the brass ring: as the horses circle, a wooden chute drops out steel rings and one occasional brass one. Catch the brass ring on your wooden lance and you win a free ride. Pleasure-cheap, lovely, and not just for children. Open seasonally; busy in midsummer.

things to do sight
A story
The Flying Horses' wooden ponies are not just carved — they have real horsehair manes and tails, and glass eyes inside which the carvers concealed tiny figurines of farm animals, soldiers, and women, visible if you look very closely. It is a Victorian-era practice and a small reason the carousel was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.