COACHING AND OTHER FOUR-IN-HAND VEHICLES
Body painted maroon and black, red wheels. Trimmed in leather.
This famous road coach LIBERTY was built in Paris by Million et Guiet and is a reproduction of the old royal mail coaches used in England. It was built especially for Mr. James Hazen Hyde, one of the outstanding “whips” of the coaching revival, who had it brought over here and ran it as a public road coach from Holland House in New York city to Laurel-in-the-Pines, Lakewood, New Jersey.
In 1901 Mr. Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt and Mr. Hyde made a record run in the LIBERTY to Bellevue Hotel in Philadelphia from Holland House in New York and return in the time of 19 hours and 35 minutes. Seventy-eight horses spaced along the route were used in this record-breaking run.
The LIBERTY was also driven up the St. Bernard’s Pass to the Monk’s Monastery in Switzerland by Mr. Hyde, a feat which more than justified his claim to the title “gentleman coachman.”
Gift of Mr. J. Ford Johnson, New York, New York.
(Courtesy New York Historical Society, New York City)
(Courtesy New York Historical Society, New York City)
(Above) Road coach LIBERTY crossing the bridge near Turkey Blue Ball, New Jersey on its New York-to-Lakewood run. Watercolor by Max Klepper painted 1903, one of a series of twelve showing the different views along the route. These paintings may be seen at the New York Historical Society—gift of Mr. James Hazen Hyde.]
(Below) Pen and ink water color by Crafty showing the road coach LIBERTY in France. Gift of Mr. James Hazen Hyde to Shelburne Museum.]
Body painted dark olive green, green gear. Interior trimming is in green leather; exterior trimming is in tan cord.
The park drag resembles the road coach but is a lighter vehicle and is intended for four-in-hand driving by the owner-coachman for his own amusement and that of his friends.
The Coaching Club of New York each year sponsored Meets for their members. Sometimes these drives occupied an hour or so and the coaches returned to point of departure and there separated; on other occasions the coaches went to some out-of-town place for lunch or dinner and returned independently.
Fairman Rogers in hisManual of Coaching(1899) mentions the placement of passenger load for these Meets: “The wife of the owner, if he has one, takes the box-seat (with him); two ladies and two men on the front roof-seat, the back of the hind roof-seat is turned down and the two grooms are in the rumble ... in the case of mourning, when the wife of a member does not, for that reason, wish to appear at the Meet, a lady takes her place, or the load is made up of men only.”
“The only occasion on which the wife of the owner, if she is on the coach at all, is not on the box-seat, is when a very distinguished personage such as the President of the United States takes that seat on the leading coach. If the owner is unmarried, the lady on the box is usually one of his own family.”
The photograph above taken in Central Park, New York, shows Dr. and Mrs. Webb on the box at the commencement of one of the Coaching Parades. In the lower picture, Miss Frederica V. Webb (daughter of Dr. and Mrs. W. Seward Webb) handles the “ribbons” for the Ladies’ Coaching Parade. Her brother, Mr. J. Watson Webb, is on the box seat with her.
Gift of the Webb family in memory of Dr. and Mrs. W. Seward Webb
Body painted black with red gear. Varnished interior; wicker seats.
The DEFIANCE was built by Brewster and Company, New York for Mr. C. Ledyard Blair, father of the donor, and belonged to him over a period of nearly 50 years. Originally painted in his colors, primrose and black, the coach was driven in many parades and on coaching club trips. In 1935 Mr. Blair presented this coach to Mr. Richard V. N. Gambrill, husband of the donor, and at that time it was repainted in the regular Gambrill colors.
These coaches were copies of the earlier English mail coach and each was given its own name. Points of departure, destination and intermediate towns were painted in bright colors to a set pattern, and the names “Vernon Manor, Peapack, Gladstone, Far Hills and Bedminster” appear on this coach.
Gift of Mrs. Gambrill in memory of her husband, Mr. Richard V. N. Gambrill
Body and gear painted bright yellow with black.
The skeleton break (or brake) was used to exercise the four-in-hand team and also for breaking the team to harness. The driver’s seat was placed high and this offered him some protection in his dangerous task of putting-to and subduing the horses when they first commenced their team work. Youngsters or fresh horses would be put-to in double harness to a break with an old and reliable specially trained “break horse” or “schoolmaster.” An additional stable-helper would usually stand on the front platform holding on behind the box so that he was free to jump easily on or off as occasion demanded, thus leaving the driver free to cope with his inevitable problems brought on by the high spirits of the fresh “young one.”
This skeleton break was built by Brewster and Company of New York.
Gift of Mr. F. Ambrose Clark of Cooperstown, New York.
Body painted dark olive green, green gear. Trimmed in tan cord.
The break (or brake) was a most useful adjunct to establishments where four horses were kept, as it could be used to exercise the team, or as an alternative to the road coach for four-in-hand work when the road coach or drag would be considered too “dressy.” This type of break was also known as a wagonette break.
It was most often used with four horses, although in the country the unicorn team (three horses, one leader and two wheelers) was sometimes used. The break was a most spacious, roomy and useful carriage for station or other rough work. Here the seat length has been curtailed to make room for the additional forward-facing seat which is removable.
This break was built by Brewster and Company of New York and the Webb coat-of-arms has been incorporated on either side in the center spindle.
Gift of the Webb family in memory of Dr. and Mrs. W. Seward Webb
Photo above shows Dr. W Seward Webb with his son J. Watson Webb on the box with him, and his daughter Frederica on the side lengthwise seat. This picture of the body break was taken about 1886 or 1887 at Oakledge, the Webb home in Burlington, Vermont, before they moved to Shelburne.]
In the photograph below, taken about 1903 at Shelburne Farms, the body break is harnessed with four of the first home-bred half-breed hackneys out of native mares.]