UNCLASSIFIED VEHICLES
Framework and wheels painted yellow.
This type of two-wheel cart was used for exercising and racing trotting horses. Built as light as possible with practically no body work, these sulkies were really mere frames supporting the single seat.
From mid-19th century, trotting parks and race tracks were established in the New England states. These were the natural outgrowth of the impromptu brushes between drivers on the road. The trot is the most comfortable for the driver and the easiest gait for the horse in harness, and then too the New England Puritan conscience could be quieted with the explanation that light harness racing was in reality an attempt to improve the breed of trotters. Races at local fair grounds gave breeders a chance to see their home-grown stock in action and competition with the “experts” on tour. A prize-winning performance on the track always influenced prices, and many a farmer dreamed of raising a trotter that would one day bring him real fame.
Body and wheels painted red.
This light racing cart was found in Westford, Vermont and shows the webbed seat and pencil-slim spokes of the early skeleton wagon.
Rural communities here in Vermont have enjoyed harness racing for many years, and Bertha Oppenheim (Winged Seed) depicted the Fourth of July races held in the early years of this century in Ferrisburg, a small community just south of the Shelburne Museum. The brass band had been engaged far in advance; ice cream and lemonade were on sale in the refreshment tents; horses had been entered from as far away as Rutland and Manchester, Vermont—and even from across the lake in New York State. Hundreds of buggies and horses were hitched to fences everywhere and Ford cars were parked on the sidelines too. The racing carts, decorated with many colors, lined the track. The “trots” were exciting, but the free-for-all race was the climax of the celebration.
Natural color varnish; metal-rimmed ties. Trimmed in brown leather.
Each of the Webb children in turn learned to drive in this little cart dating from about 1883 and made to Dr. Webb’s specifications by a local wheelwright. Wheelwrights often made entire vehicles and served as village carpenters.
Wheel-making consisted of several processes—the hub was first turned by hand lathe and then mortised to take the spokes. Felloes or fellies (the wooden outer rim of the wheel), cut by the bow saw and adzed to shape, were then mortised and fitted to the spokes.
Fitting the outer rim to the completed wheel was the final operation. In the old days the wheel was straked—that is, overlapping iron plates were nailed to the rim of the wheel. About 1850 the hoop tire began to supersede the strake. Here the length of iron was welded into a hoop, heated so that it would expand and then dropped onto the wheel. It was cooled with buckets of water and after shrinking made a tight, secure metal rim for the wheel.
Gift of the Webb family in memory of Dr. and Mrs. W. Seward Webb
(Above) The Webb head coachman holding the pony and Frederica, aged 4 and J. Watson Webb, 2 years old, each with one of the reins. Even before children could walk, they were given their first driving and riding lessons.]
(Below) Frederica has graduated. She is now 5 years old; her gentle pony is Frieda and she can drive alone. Both these pictures were taken at Oakledge, in Burlington, Vermont and show the little Tub Cart designed by Dr. Webb.]
Body painted red. Trimmed with brown leather.
Not a carriage in the true meaning of the word, this type of vehicle was intended solely for breaking horses. The very long shafts kept the float body and its occupant at a comfortable distance from the heels of the young horse being schooled, and because of the placement of the seat, the driver was given better control and greater security. This cart could also be used for exercising horses.
Manufactured by the H. H. Babcock Company of Watertown, New York.
Gift of Dr. Stuart Orton, Rahway, New Jersey.
Body originally painted old blue color.
The concord wagon was the name given to this type of vehicle, although companies other than the Concord, New Hampshire firm of Downing and Abbot manufactured them. In 1813 Lewis Downing started building vehicles in Concord. He formed a partnership with Stephen Abbot, which was later dissolved. Abbot continued manufacturing vehicles and later a new company, Abbot-Downing Company of Concord, New Hampshire was formed. Stage coaches, mountain wagons, horse-drawn barges, even horse-drawn street railway cars were manufactured at the Abbot-Downing shops over the years.
Gift of Mr. W. B. Hill, Tilton, New Hampshire
Green, red wheels, picked out with black.
This vehicle, with its light green acorn stencilled pattern, is one of the oldest carriages in this collection. It was licensed in 1815 in Vergennes, Vermont by Beldon Seymour. It is of hand construction and follows the principles of early framing with the use of mortising and pegging the parts together.
This carriage transported President James Monroe during his tour of the Northern States in July of 1817, and Commodore MacDonough of Lake Champlain fame was also a passenger in this vehicle that year.
In 1888 Mr. Sheldon of Middlebury purchased this wagon from a Mr. Kellogg for $45 and presented it to the Sheldon Museum.
On loan from the Sheldon Museum, Middlebury, Vermont.
Body painted black; red and yellow striping; light grey wheels. Trimming: beige broadcloth with beige lace.
The Canadian calèche differs greatly from the French calèche, which is a four-wheeled vehicle. The body of this two-wheeled Canadian example rests upon leather braces which are suspended from C-shaped supports.
This vehicle displays an extensive use of striping for decoration, but in a restrained manner. “The variety of styles in striping are limited,” said I. D. Ware in his instructions to carriage painters in 1875, “When we discard those which lessen rather than increase the beauty of the work. We first had the fine line enlivened by being dotted at the ends of each stripe ... gradually changes took place in the quantity of striping run on as the desire arose for gaudy colors. Modest and retiring colors were in great measure abandoned, ushering in straw, orange, red and crimson and these were followed and accompanied with a perfect shower of gold leaf.”
Body painted very dark green, striped in red; gear black. Trimmed in black leather.
This mountain wagon was originally owned by the Mount Pleasant Hotel up in the Crawford Notch, New Hampshire. At the turn of the century, these elegant resort hotels in the White mountains used these wagons to take their guests to the summit where an elaborate picnic lunch was served to them.
Note the hand brake—it is exceptionally sturdy, for one of these vehicles carrying its full quota of passengers weighed a considerable amount, and checking the rate of descent of the steep mountain roads was somewhat of a problem. This vehicle was built by the Abbot-Downing Company of Concord, New Hampshire.
Green and yellow body, yellow gear. LetteringLady Oxfordin straw color shadow-outlined in red (recently repainted).
Mr. Jabez W. Peterson, 75 years old in 1954, was the driver of this barge from 1908 to 1918 when it carried passengers to the Brant Rock Beach section from the Marshfield, Massachusetts depot. The barge was built in Concord, New Hampshire by the Abbot-Downing Company and was one of 6 or 8 that regularly plied the beach circuit. Baggage was carried free, and the income from this barge, according to Mr. Peterson amounted to $1,000 in one month at 35¢ fares. Three or four trips were made every day, including Sunday. Sam and John, Genevera and Pete, four sorrel horses with white manes and tails, pulled theLady Oxford.
“I drove that barge in all the parades,” said Mr. Peterson, “and carried the bands, Grand Army men, etc. All these older men have passed on, and I believe I am the only one left that would remember about that barge.”
Body painted yellow with orange trim. Interior is russet leather.
The Concord coaches have become a more familiar sight, perhaps, to the youngsters of today than to their parents, for television with its Wild West movies has made the Concord the trademark of the west.
The opening of the gold fields in California—the Comstock Lode, the Nevada silver camps—the famous Wells Fargo saga—all these were made possible because of the Concord coach. The men who drove the coaches and their exploits have become the folklore of America.
Until the completion of the transcontinental railroad, the two choices open to a traveller to the west were the long and arduous voyage by sea around the Cape of Good Hope or the equally dangerous trip by stagecoach over the towering mountains and down precipitous grades. Rigid time schedules were maintained; the six horses used on many of the stages were pushed to their capacity, and the drivers who trekked over the Sierra Nevada made the Placerville grade the busiest thoroughfare west of the Rockies. Dozens of Concord coaches rolled on daily schedules and scaled the heights of 7200 feet as a matter of course.
The Concord was of the same body form as the oldtime English coaches of the 18th century. The two lengthwise “thorough braces” fashioned of several strips of leather stitched together, absorbed some of the shock. The body hung on these braces with the driver’s seat high in front and an integral part of the coach. Inside there was room for 9 passengers (though often more were crowded in) and the capacity of the coaches was 4,000 lbs. The bodies were rounded and smoothly curved with drop windows and painted decorations of eagles, scrolls and pastoral scenes. Curtains and upholstery were most often of russet leather.
There was another version of the Concord coach—similar in appearance, but specifically designed for the Eastern part of the United States and of lighter construction. These coaches were the connecting links to the railroads until a surprisingly recent time. Such a model is the one illustrated below. It was operated by Waddel & Emerson and ran between the railroad station at Riverside, New York, and the steamboat landing on Schroon Lake, near Pottersville. From there, passengers took the steamerEvelynto the village of Schroon at the head of the lake or intermediate points.
Photo—Gift of Mr. Albert Jacob, Jr. Scarsdale, New York—showing the Schroon Lake coach at intersection of Routes 8 and 9 at Loon Lake in the Town of Chester, Warren County. Photo taken about 1907 or 1908.]
Body painted Indian red, remnants of yellow paint on gear.
This type Concord, known as the California mud wagon or poor man’s Concord, incorporated the same principles of construction found in the finer Concords, but the joinery was done in a simpler manner and the body was shaped with flat sides instead of the egg shape of the regular Concords.
This mud wagon was used in Herkimer County, New York and was probably built by Abbot and Downing, for it is identical with their style number 208.
Red with gold and black trim; interior is heavy crimson mohair.
This coach, completed April 5, 1852, was used by the Highland and Alpine hotels in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
In blurred pencil markings on the inside door where the lining has fallen away can still be seen the names of the men who worked on this coach—John L. French, wheelwright; William L. Pearson, trimmer; John Bergum, painter.
Great care was lavished on the painting of the scrolls, striping and decorative scenes on the door panels. Customers usually had definite ideas as to what they wanted—“ornament up rich and tasty,” “flowers and nice landscapes on doors;” “put eagle,” “on the other door a female figure,” “on the door Pharaoh’s horses,” “a lady on horseback;” “Queen Victoria” (this for a stage line in Nova Scotia, Canada); “a coach and horses painted in the road,” “horses on one door and dogs on the other”—These specifications appear on the old order forms in the archives of the New Hampshire Historical Society.