Moving My Carriages to Skylands
Moving precious and fragile antiques across state lines can be challenging and time-consuming, but it can be done.
I love carriage riding and have collected quite a few antique carriages of my own over the years. Recently, I decided to move three carriages from my Bedford, New York farm up to Skylands, my beloved home in Maine. This task took careful planning to ensure all the pieces were packed and loaded properly for the long, eight-hour drive. Once there, the carriages were wheeled out slowly, inspected, and then placed carefully in their new locations. It was an arduous job, but I am pleased to report that everything arrived in perfect condition.
Here are some photos and a little history on the elegant horse-drawn carriage, enjoy.
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- This is my Carriage House at the farm. It is located next to my large stable and across from another structure used for staff offices. This Carriage House houses several carriages and a sleigh downstairs. The upstairs is a guest apartment.
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- When guests visit, I love to take them down to the Carriage House so they could see the beautiful horse carriages I keep inside. These “sporty” open carriages were popular in the late 18th to early 19th centuries. They typically had minimal bodies and four extravagant wheels over open seating.
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- Some of you may have seen this on my holiday blogs. This is a two-bench cutter. Before the advent of the automobile, many people traveled by horse and buggy in the warm months, and by cutter or sleigh when it snowed.
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- And this is a marathon carriage – suitable for both marathon and pleasure driving. It was manufactured in Poland.
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- This carriage is a Brewster Wicker Phaeton. Also known as a Lady’s Wicker Phaeton, the low-slung body allowed easy access for women wearing long skirts.
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- The carriage was designed to either let the lady drive from the front seat or for a coachman to lead the way from this seat in the rear.
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- Because of its wicker body it was also intended for summer use. There are also no lamp brackets included on this carriage because it was meant to be driven during daylight hours.
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- Here is another carriage – a Brewster Bronson Wagon from 1900, which was the popular sporting wagon for country gentlemen. It’s framed and paneled sides were the inspiration for the early “Woody” station wagons.
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- The seats are all upholstered with a comfortable wool broadcloth.
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- This is my one gig carriage. A gig, also called chair or chaise, is a light, two-wheeled sprung cart pulled by one horse.
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- I decided to move three carriages up to Maine to allow me more room in the Carriage House for storage. The gig, Brewster Bronson Wagon, and Brewster Wicker Phaeton were all carefully loaded onto the trailer one by one.
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- Everything was covered and secured to the trailer to prevent any movement during the ride. This trailer is often used for transporting my plants to and from Maine and East Hampton after wintering in my Bedford greenhouses. It has plenty of room.
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- The trip took about eight hours. It was just 1-degree Fahrenheit at Skylands – bitterly cold. Here’s Fernando preparing to unload the first carriage.
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- This is the Carriage House at Skylands adjacent to my stable. It is also used to store canoes, kayaks and other summer sporting equipment.
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- I do store one carriage at Skylands already. I own an original Bar Harbor buckboard, one of the early carriages that carried visitors through the park. It was designed for use by hotels as a beach wagon during the holiday season. It was built around 1915 in the town of Bar Harbor.
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- And here is the gig carriage coming in. On the floor of this Carriage House is a turntable designed by Jens Jensen. It was intended to allow Edsel Ford’s carriages to be turned 360-degrees so the wheels always faced forward when taken out for a ride – it is still in perfect working condition today.
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- Fernando and Andres put the front shafts on a saw horse to keep it upright.
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- Here’s another carriage entering the carriage house. This is the Brewster Bronson Wagon.
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- These carriages have four wheels instead of two. The sides are made of quarter-cut oak, with panels and moldings cut out of the solid wood.
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- And here’s the last one coming in – the Lady’s Wicker Phaeton. With open seating, it was both fast and dangerous, giving rise to its name, drawn from the mythical Phaëthon, son of Helios, who nearly set the Earth on fire while attempting to drive the “Sun Chariot.”
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- The wicker Phaeton is the biggest of three – I am so pleased they all got there safely.
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- Here they are indoors and all intact.
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- Once all the carriages were inside, they were covered with sheets to keep them free from dust. Fernando and Andres decided to head back to “warmer” winter weather soon after, and made it back to New York safely and in good time. Thanks, Fernando and Andres!
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