A Jersey Shore icon will soon be gone after 87 years. The Casino Pier Carousel will take its final spin this weekend before it is disassembled and moved into storage.

Dr. Floyd Moreland restored the historic carousel more than 30 years ago. He says that he rode on it as a toddler, worked collecting tickets for it as a teen and then restored the carousel as an adult. He also teaches history at City University of New York.

“Since I was a little boy I loved this machine and that love persisted,” Moreland says. “I led a dual life. An academic life and a merry-go-round operator, carnival life.”

The carousel was built in 1910 and eventually made its way to the Seaside Heights Boardwalk during the Great Depression.

A controversial post-Superstorm Sandy land swap saw the Storino family hand off ownership of the carousel to the Borough of Seaside Heights in exchange for a little over an acre of beach real estate now occupied by thrill rides – something that dismays Moreland.

“Dreams, that’s what carousels generate. The big rides out there, they generate screams,” he says.

Moreland says that he hopes to live long enough to see the borough restore the carousel and move it several blocks away to a museum.

“Appreciating the past. We learn for the present and the future and it’s important not to forget the past,” Moreland says.

The Casino Pier Arcade and Carousel will be open Saturday and Sunday. The ride will remain shut down inside the arcade until the fall when it is moved into storage.