Flat Hammock Press - The Flying Horses of Watch Hill

Every summer thousands of families flock to the seaside town of Watch Hill, Rhode Island, where only children can ride its famous
Flying Horse Carousel. Set by the sea and sand dunes of Napatree Point, it is the oldest Flying Horse Carousel in the United States
in continuous operation. From morning till night, the smaller children ride the inside horses and the bigger children ride on the outside horses,
leaning out, arms outstretched to catch the brass ring. When summer ends, the families go home and Watch Hill and the carousel close down.
But where do the horses go?

About the Flying Horse Carousel
The seaside town of Watch Hill, Rhode Island, has been described as timeless. The hill-crested peninsula, surrounded by Long Island Sound,
Fishers Island Sound and Block Island Sound, began as a summer resort in the 1840s. It has grown continuously as a result of its fine sandy beaches,
well-kept Victorian era mansions, its historic lighthouse, and the lovingly maintained Flying Horse Carousel.

According to legend the carousel was part of a traveling carnival when it was abandoned in the town in 1883. Originally, a horse was harnessed to
the sweep mechanism and propelled the wooden horses by walking around the outside of the carousel. In 1897 the horse was retired when waterpower
was introduced. Then later when electricity came to town, the carousel was converted to electric power.

Since the 1880s the carousel horses have survived countless summer storms and hurricanes that have threatened to demolish it or bury it in the
surrounding beach sand. In the early 1900s, the people of the town built a roofed, open-sided building to protect their carousel mechanism and
its twenty wooden horses. Thanks to the caring community, careful craftsmanship and luck, the little carousel survived the disastrous 1938 hurricane,
which wiped all the houses off nearby Napatree Point and claimed more than 50 lives, and a battering Hurricane Carol in 1954.

About the Author
Lynn Anderson received a Bachelor of Fine Art from Syracuse University and has done further study at the University of California,
Rhode Island School of Design and Lyme Academy. She is the author and illustrator of several books, including the bestsellers
The Christmas Memories Book, The Christmas Memories Cookbook, and The Baby Memories Book. She is a painter who exhibits
her work in galleries throughout New England.