Glen Echo carousel vandalized

Latest example of

NPS failing to protect

historic resources

The historic Dentzel carousel at Glen Echo Park was vandalized Saturday by one or more intruders, the Glen Echo Park Partnership for the Arts and Culture Executiv Director Katey Boerner said. As a result, the organization announced, the park's pavilions and playgrounds are now closed to the public.

According to Boerner, the damage was to the structure of the carousel, but the horses were left undamaged. Renovations to the carousel house had just been completed, and now the carousel itself will have to be repaired. Boerner still believes the carousel will open to the public this year, once coronavirus stay-at-home orders are lifted.

A federal police investigation into the vandalism has begun, and the public is being asked to send tips about the case to the U.S. Park Police at 1-202-610-7500. Boerner said there is some surveillance camera footage of the incident that is being reviewed by law enforcement.

This is the latest example of the National Park Service failing to protect historic resources under its supervision. The historic home at Marshall Hall Park in Charles County was left unprotected to arsonists shortly after the NPS got control of the former amusement park there. A historic streetcar entrusted to NPS at the gate of Glen Echo was allowed to deteriorate, and then was shipped off to a junkyard - eight years ago this very month, by coincidence.

With the 100th anniversary of the carousel's installation at the amusement park coming up next year, the outrageous of this is compounded all the more. Yet those in charge continue to coast with impunity, asleep at the switch.

As I've been saying for more than a decade, Glen Echo Park should be fully acquired by Montgomery County, and the amusement park restored with the original rides. This is yet another economic engine for a revenue-strapped county sitting idle. Thanks to the coronavirus and our free-spending Montgomery County Council, we'll not likely have the funds to this anytime soon, but with philanthropic help, it can be done sooner rather than later.