Album Notes

The band organ at historic Lake Compounce accompanies the carousel that whirls around for park attendees all summer long in Bristol Connecticut. The rolls used on the recordings of the Wurlitzer 153 Band organ are specially made for the organ, and the happy music reproduced here for the sounds of summer all year round.

The name Lake Compounce is derived from John Compound,
a Mattatuck/Tunxis Native American Chieftain. On December 2, 1684,
his wife and several tribal members affixed their waxed
fingertip marks to a deed that conveyed the Compound’s Lake
to a group of white settlers who had migrated to central
Connecticut from Massachusetts.

On October 6, 1846, Samuel Botsford, an influential Bristol
scientist, persuaded property owner Gad Norton, an original settler
escendant, to let him conduct a series of beautiful experiments in
electricity. Well publicized, the event drew thousands of spectators
who witnessed the demonstration amidst the beauty of the woods and water.
Although the final experiment of blowing up from shore, two huge jugs
of gunpowder tied under a raft in the middle of the lake failed,
it did inspire Mr. Norton to action. He put a path around the lake,
set up picnic tables, allowed public swimming and rowing on the lake,
and built a gazebo for lakeside band concerts. Lake Compounce had
officially opened to the public as a picturesque picnic park.