By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
A beautifully hand-carved carousel horse rescued from the rubble of the epic 1962 Ash Wednesday coastal storm was welcomed back home in Sea Isle City after a 60-year absence.
“Hello, Alice. Welcome home,” Mayor Leonard Desiderio said during a ceremony Saturday at the Sea Isle City Historical Museum. “Alice is finally back where she belongs.”
Alice was the name given to the carousel horse by its owner, Ann Bacon, in memory of her beloved late aunt, Alice Bacon. The Bacon family owned the horse for the past 60 years. In October, Ann Bacon donated the horse to the museum.
“I took good care of her for 60 years. Hopefully, she stays here for another 60 years,” Ann Bacon, 75, said in an interview at the museum ceremony.
Ron Kovatis, the museum president, pointed out the beauty of the vintage horse and its life-like glass eyes.
“It is a work of art that was carved by a family that was renowned for carving carousel figures,” Kovatis said.
Standing about 4½ feet high and 5 feet long, the wood horse includes an ornately sculpted mane, leather stirrups and the image of an eagle carved into the saddle.
It was carved by the famed Philadelphia craftsmen and carousel makers, Gustav Dentzel and his son, William, in 1905, Ann Bacon said.
Over the years, the horse has never gone through a restoration, although Ann Bacon had some damage repaired on Alice. The museum intends to keep the horse unrestored to preserve its authenticity and history, Kovatis emphasized.
“Its history is told in every mark and scrape in the horse’s body itself,” he said.
The ceremony was part of the museum’s annual open house, which traditionally serves as an old-fashioned holiday celebration that gives visitors the opportunity to experience vintage toys, games, books and other artifacts from Christmases of the past. Visitors to the museum can get a close-up view of the carousel horse.
Alice even drew Santa’s attention when he stopped by at the museum during the open house to hand out candy canes to the visitors.
“Good horsey, good horsey,” Santa said with a smile while giving Alice an affectionate pat on the head.
Alice was one of 44 horses for a popular merry-go-round at an amusement business called Marconi’s Carousel on Sea Isle’s old Boardwalk at 43rd Street.
The colossal Ash Wednesday storm March 6-8, 1962, destroyed the Boardwalk, Marconi’s Carousel and many other Sea Isle landmarks in its wake. Ann Bacon’s late father, Edward Bacon, purchased the carousel horse for his daughter shortly after it was recovered from the rubble of Marconi’s Carousel, beginning its 60-year care by the Bacon family.
“I’m thrilled. I think this whole thing was serendipity,” Ann Bacon said of how the horse was miraculously saved.
Over the years, she kept the horse with her when she lived in Bucks County, Pa., and then in Maine. Most recently, she had it in her house in Chestnut Hill, Pa, before donating it to the museum.
Joining Bacon at the ceremony Saturday were three grandchildren and other descendants of Nicola Masciulli, a legendary local figure who owned Marconi’s Carousel and then lost it all in the storm. The merry-go-round and the building that housed it were destroyed and later bulldozed with other storm rubble.
“Atlantic City had Steel Pier and the High Diving horse, Margate had Lucy, Wildwood had its iconic boardwalk with all the amusements, and Sea Isle City had Marconi’s Carousel,” said Tom McMackin, Masciulli’s grandson, while naming some of the Jersey Shore’s most famous landmarks.
McMackin recounted his grandfather’s beginnings in this country as an Italian immigrant who arrived in the United States in 1903 with only cents in his pocket. Known by his nickname “Pop,” the beloved Masciulli first settled in Philadelphia before making his way to Sea Isle with his wife, Giatano, to make their living and raise a family.
“He had no illusions of entitlements. He only knew that this was a place that, if he worked hard, there was an opportunity for him to earn a living and support his family. That was Nick’s idea of the American dream,” McMackin said in remarks during the ceremony.
Along with other members, Tom McMackin, 76, was joined by his brother, Michael McMackin, 69, and their sister, Candace McMackin-Shiffer, 64. All three are Masciulli’s grandchildren.
“He loved Sea Isle City,” Michael McMackin said of his grandfather.
The family members spoke of the “magical times” they experienced at Marconi’s Carousel. However, the storm was cruel to Nicola Masciulli and the family.
“Our world came to an end,” Tom McMackin said. “All that my grandfather created was gone. Amazingly, through it all, Pop accepted this act of God as just another one of life’s experiences. He never uttered a harsh word toward anyone. He just picked up the pieces and looked forward to what life had in store for him.”
After the storm, Masciulli lived for another 10 years, dying in May 1972 at the age of 91.
Sea Isle Councilman J.B. Feeley, 73, fondly recalled of how he worked for Masciulli at Marconi’s Carousel when he was a boy. His summer job was to polish the coveted brass ring for the merry-go-round.
Feeley told the audience at the museum ceremony that he usually earned 35 cents a night while working at Marconi’s Carousel, but that Masciulli would sometimes up his pay to 50 cents on busy nights. On Feeley’s last night of work for the summer, Masciulli gave him a silver dollar as a token of appreciation.
“I’ll never forget working there,” he said.
The Sea Isle City Historical Museum is located inside the Sea Isle City Library at 4800 Central Ave. For more information, visit seaislemuseum.com.
