Carousel Museum Collection
In preparation for your year end tax donations, please consider donating to the Carousel Museum's transportation fund! Our permanent collection of carousel animals continues to grow each year. Donations to the collection have come from all over the United States including, Maine, Connecticut, New York, Kansas, Las Vegas, New Jersey, California, and New York. Your support of our transportation fund will help us get these animals to the Museum and into their forever home!
The Museum of Fire History
Discover a fascinating array of firefighting and firehouse signaling equipment and memorabilia. Wonderfully displayed with alarms to pull, sirens to set off, and bells to ring. The Fire Museum is available for school groups and adult tours.
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The Museum of Fire History is made possible by the generous donation of Carlyle "Hap" Barnes in 2002 and is supported by the Barnes Foundation.
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Learn more about the Museum of Fire History
A Word from Hap
Why a Museum of Fire History?
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Back in 1948 at Wesleyan University, I began chasing fires, due, I think, in part, to my family history. My great-great-grandfather and two other men started the Bristol Fire Department in 1853. It must be in my blood. I had the opportunity to be appointed to the Bristol Board of Fire Commissioners in 1957 and served until December of 1993. During that time, I started collecting fire memorabilia - helmets, gongs, nozzles, and much more, placing them on the ground floor of a home we built in 1965. This home included a game room with a bar, the front of which simulated the back end of a fire truck. In recent years, the collection had grown to the point where my wife Betty wondered what we were going to do with all of it and wished we could put it somewhere where more people could see and enjoy it. Over the years, we had thought, half-heartedly, of opening a restaurant and calling it The Bell and Siren. Fortunately, that never materialized, particularly since neither of us had restaurant experience.
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A year or so ago, a good friend, Morris Laviero, said, "Why don't you donate the collection to the New England Carousel Museum?" He had been to a function at the Carousel Museum and had been given a "behind-the-scenes tour," showing him the work in progress at the Museum. The Museum was creating a cultural center for Central Connecticut and was inviting other museums and individual artists to join them in the building. Morrie spoke to the Board President, and they agreed that I should be contacted. They told me that they had room on the second floor and my collection would be a great benefit to Bristol. Since they were creating a Cultural Center in the building, they could run the Fire Museum as part of their operation. Great Idea!
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Here we are opening this Museum of Fire History in June 2002, after a lot of help from firemen, many interested friends, and with a great deal of donated time and effort. I would like to thank everyone who participated, donated, and helped create this Museum. Some of the items are on loan from the Bristol Fire Department and other individuals, but the majority of the equipment came from my collection.
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I think you will enjoy seeing it.
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Carlyle "Hap" Barnes
