Horseshoe Barn and Annex facts for kids
The Horseshoe Barn and its Horseshoe Barn Annex are two special buildings at the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont. These buildings are like a giant garage for many different kinds of horse-drawn vehicles. You can see everything from fancy carriages and trade wagons to big stagecoaches and sleighs inside!
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How the Horseshoe Barn Was Built
The idea for the Shelburne Museum came from Electra Havemeyer Webb. She wanted a perfect place to show off her father-in-law's amazing collection of carriages. His name was Dr. William Seward Webb.
Electra looked all over Vermont for a building that would be just right. She found a very unique barn shaped like a horseshoe near a town called Georgia. When the owner didn't want to sell it, Electra decided to build a copy of it!
For two years, her team worked hard. They found and moved old, hand-cut wooden beams from twelve different barns in Vermont. They also used stones from two old gristmills (places where grain was ground). All these old materials were put together to build their very own horseshoe barn at the museum.
The huge barn was finished in July 1949. It's about 238.5 feet (72.7 m) long and 32 feet (9.8 m) wide. It used 745 large wooden pieces and lots of planks. The roof was covered with 9,000 square feet (840 m2) of slate tiles. Carpenters even cut new clapboards (the siding on the outside) with a special saw to make them look just like the original barn's siding.
In 1957, the museum added the Horseshoe Barn Annex. This was needed because the collection of vehicles grew by 150 more! The Annex was built using a mix of old and new materials.
Rare Horseshoe Barns
It's pretty rare to find barns shaped like a horseshoe in the United States. In Vermont, there were only two known horseshoe barns. The one at the Shelburne Museum is the only one still standing today! The original barn in Georgia, Vermont that it was copied from was torn down a short time later. You can still find a road named Horseshoe Barn Road in Georgia, Vermont.
Another known horseshoe-shaped barn is at Llangollen Farm in Virginia.
The Amazing Carriage Collection
The museum's collection of carriages started with the vehicles owned by Dr. William Seward Webb and his wife, Lila Vanderbilt Webb. Today, the collection has grown to include 225 horse-drawn vehicles! Many of these vehicles came directly from their original owners. This means they still have their first seats and decorations, which is very cool.
Different Types of Horse-Drawn Vehicles
Carriages and coaches became popular in Britain during the 1600s. But they really got better in the late 1700s when the Royal Mail started using coaches to deliver mail. For the first time, many carriages were made for comfort and speed. They were also built with parts that could be swapped, making them easier to fix. Soon, riding in carriages became a stylish way to travel. However, for many years, only rich people could afford them.
In America, making horse-drawn vehicles improved much faster in the 1800s. Soon, people from all walks of life could get them. By the late 1800s, American builders were making light and practical vehicles. These were sold to everyone at low prices, even through mail-order catalogs like Sears and Roebuck. For example, a fancy runabout (a small, open carriage) from Brewster & Co., a top American builder, cost $425 in 1900. But a similar runabout from Sears was only $24.95!
The Shelburne Museum's collection includes carriages from the 1800s and early 1900s. You can see farm wagons, trade wagons, stagecoaches, sleighs, and even old firefighting equipment. It's one of the best collections in the country. It's special because most vehicles still have their original seats, lamps, and paint.
Many of the museum's best vehicles belonged to Dr. William Seward Webb. These include elegant carriages and coaches from Brewster & Co. in New York. There are also two amazing custom-made vehicles from Million et Guiet in Paris: a caleche (a folding-top carriage) and a satin-trimmed Berlin.
Sleighs for Winter Travel
People in rural America were often too busy to travel during warm months because of farm work. But winter brought more free time. Snow could be packed down by horse-drawn rollers, making roads much smoother than dirt roads. Sleighs were also easier to build and fix than wheeled vehicles. Someone without special training could make and take care of them at home. Because of this, a typical northern farm family often owned three sleighs for every wheeled vehicle!
Sleighs often looked like wheeled vehicles. Some wheeled vehicles, like the museum's hearse, could even be changed from wheels to runners when the seasons changed. The museum's sleighs range from small, simple homemade wooden cutters to fancy, multi-passenger surreys, caleches, and victorias. The collection also has a stage sleigh, a school bus sleigh, a butcher's delivery sleigh, and even a police ambulance and paddy wagon sleigh.
Public and Commercial Vehicles
Large stagecoaches and omnibuses offered public transportation. They carried travelers within and between cities, from train stations to hotels, and on sightseeing trips. Businesses also used horses to move goods. They often used wagons and sleighs that had colorful pictures and signs advertising what they sold.
The museum's collection of commercial vehicles includes a Concord stagecoach. This coach was used to carry hotel guests in the White Mountains. There's also a butcher's wagon with hanging scales and meat hooks, a Maine druggist's patent medicine wagon, and a Pennsylvania Conestoga wagon. Conestoga wagons were used to haul farm produce from the countryside to city markets.
Firefighting Vehicles
Vehicles were also super important for firefighters. They needed to move water and equipment very quickly. The museum's collection shows many types of early firefighting vehicles. Horses didn't become widely used in firefighting until the 1870s. To save precious time, horses were kept right in the firehouse. Their stalls had chains that would break away. When the alarm sounded, the horses would race to their places in front of the waiting equipment. Their harnesses hung from the ceiling, ready to drop onto them instantly.
The steam-driven pumper, the hose wagon, and the hook-and-ladder truck became the three main horse-drawn firefighting vehicles. The steamer was the most exciting to see. It was usually pulled by two or three horses side-by-side. Smoke would pour from its boiler's funnel as it sped down the street, building up steam to run the pumps!
See also
- Liz Whitney Tippett (Llangollen estate)
