New England Carousel Museum Holding An Estate Sale

By Brian M. Johnson, The Bristol Press

April 12, 2022

The New England Carousel Museum and Museum of Fire History will be “cleaning out the closet,” putting up a variety of unique items for an estate sale April 15 and 16 to help fund renovations and improvements.

The Estate Sale will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the ballroom of the museum at 95 Riverside Ave.

Morgan Urgo, museum director, said that the items available include several “unique and fabulous finds” that were donated to the museum over the years, but which do not relate to the museum collections.

“We are not closing and we are not getting rid of any of our carousel animals,” said Urgo. “We are planning some major renovations. The first floor on the north side of the museum, where we have our building offices and closets, is being cleaned out. There are five storage closets filled with donations which we feel we can let go and get into the hands of people who will love them. We need to raise up the floor to prevent it from caving in. It has been bad for a long time and fixing it is part of our structure plan to take us through 2025. We’ll be doing some exploratory work before we go out to find grants.”

Some of the items which will be featured in the estate sale include two pianos and wood crafts created by Juan Andreu, the master carver at the New England Carousel Museum who is retiring this year after 30 years.

“We have had two upright pianos donated to us as well as a grand piano,” said Urgo. “We don’t need three pianos.”

Also available will be the late Berry Barnes’ collection of Wedgwood China dishes and a large wooden cuckoo clock which can currently be seen in the museum lobby.

“It is a beautifully carved clock,” said Urgo. “We offered it to the American Clock & Watch Museum, but they told us that they just don’t have the space for it.”

Brian M. Johnson can be reached at 860-973-1806 or bjohnson@bristolpress.com.