The most distinctive element in Watch Hill's commercial center, sited toward one end of the street, where a long spit of land marks the westernmost reach of Rhode Island, is the Flying Horse Carousel. Its unprepossessing octagonal shelter, supported on cylindrical cobblestone columns and enclosed in a white picket fence, belies its historical interest. It is probably the oldest continually operating carousel in the country and the only operative example of a type which precedes the merry-go-round. The steeds do not prance on rods in the familiar churning movement. They swing out on cables. Originally, a real horse animated the fantasy, then waterpower; now it is powered by an electric motor. The twenty horses are simply carved, each from a single block of wood, in the stylized full gallop of rocking horses. Reportedly, a traveling carnival abandoned the carousel in 1879. It has been a Watch Hill delight and trademark ever since.