Horseshoe Barn and Annex
Encyclopedia
The Horseshoe Barn and Horseshoe Barn Annex are two exhibit buildings located at Shelburne Museum
in Shelburne, Vermont
. Both buildings exhibit a variety of Horse-drawn vehicle
s, including carriages, trade wagons, stagecoaches, and sleighs.
’s desire to provide a suitable setting for the carriage collection of her father-in-law, Dr. William Seward Webb
, provided the inspiration for founding Shelburne Museum. She searched Vermont for a building to house these fine carriages and found a unique horseshoe-shaped dairy barn near Georgia, Vermont
. When the owner declined to sell the barn, Electra Webb directed her staff to create a copy of the structure. Over a two-year period they located, moved, and assembled hand-hewn beams from twelve Vermont barns and stone from two gristmill
s to construct their own horseshoe barn on museum grounds.
Completed in July 1949, the massive structure, which is 238 ½ feet long and 32 feet (9.8 m) wide, incorporated 745 timbers, posts, and braces, 17000 feet (5,181.6 m) of plank and other boarding, and 9000 square feet (836.1 m²) of slate. Carpenters specially cut new clapboard
s for the exterior siding with an up-and-down saw (see Scroll Saw
) to recreate the markings found on the original building.
In 1957, after the addition of 150 more vehicles to the transportation collection, the museum constructed the Horseshoe Barn Annex to exhibit key examples from the collection using a combination of old and new materials.
houses the only remaining horseshoe barn in Vermont; the Georgia, Vermont
barn it was modeled after burned to the ground. There is still a road named Horseshoe Barn Road in Saint Albans, Vermont.
Other known horseshoe-shaped barns are:
s and coach
es began to be widely used in Britain
during the 17th century. However, real progress in carriage building was not made until the late 18th century, when Royal Mail
coach service began. For the first time many carriages were designed for comfort and speed and were made alike, using interchangeable parts. Soon carriage driving became the fashionable way to travel, although for many years the cost of vehicles restricted their use primarily to the nobility and upper classes.
The manufacture of horse-drawn vehicles advanced more quickly in 19th-century America, where vehicles quickly became available to people of every social class. By the late 19th century, American coach builders had even developed light and practical vehicles that were available to the general public at low prices through mail order houses such as Sears and Roebuck. An elegant runabout
made by Brewster & Co.
, America’s finest coach builder, cost $425 in 1900; a runabout sold by Sears was $24.95.
Shelburne Museum
’s collection of horse-drawn vehicles ranges from examples of 19th and early 20th century carriages, farm and trade wagons, stagecoach
es, and sleighs; early firefighting equipment and almost every other type of vehicle used in New England in the 19th century. One of the most comprehensive collections in the country, the museum is particularly important because most of the vehicles retain their original upholstery, lamps, and decorative finishes.
Many of the museum's finest vehicles originally belonged to Dr. William Seward Webb
, father-in-law of Electra Havemeyer Webb
, including a number of elegant carriages and coaches by New York’s Brewster & Co. and a remarkable pair of custom-made vehicles – a caleche and a satin-trimmed Berlin – by Million et Guiet of Paris
.
Rural Americans were often too busy to travel during the warm months, when farm chores kept them close to home. Winter brought more leisure time. Snow could be packed down with horse-drawn rollers to form a far smoother surface than was available on dirt roads at other times of the year. Sleighs were much easier to build and repair than wheeled vehicles; a home craftsperson without specialized training could construct and maintain them. For these reasons, the typical northern farm family owned three sleighs for every wheeled vehicle it kept.
Sleighs echoed wheeled vehicles in form. Some wheeled vehicles, like the museum’s hearse
, could be converted from wheels to runners as the seasons changed. The museum’s sleighs range from small and simple homemade wooden cutters to elaborate, multi-passenger surreys
, caleches, and victorias
. The collection also includes a stage sleigh, a school bus sleigh, a butcher’s delivery sleigh and a police ambulance and paddy wagon sleigh.
Multi-passenger stagecoaches and omnibuses
provided public transportation for travelers within and between cities, from train stations to hotels, and on sight seeing trips. Businesses transported goods by horse, often using wagons and sleights that advertised their wares with decorative pictures and signage. Commercial vehicles in the museum’s collection include a Concord coach used to transport hotel guests in the White Mountains
, a butcher’s wagon complete with hanging scales and meat hooks, a Maine druggist’s patent medicine wagon and a Pennsylvania Conestoga wagon
, used to haul produce from rural farms to city markets.
Vehicles were also essential to firefighters, who needed to transport water and equipment quickly. A variety of early firefighting vehicles are represented in the museum’s collection. The horse was a latecomer to firefighting, not pressed widely into service until the 1870s. To save precious time, horses were kept in the firehouse. Their stalls had break-away chains and, at the sound of the alarm, the horses raced to their places in front of the waiting equipment. Their collars and harnesses were suspended from the ceiling, poised like spiders in a web, ready to drop at a touch.
The steam-driven pumper, the hose wagon, and the hood-and-ladder truck became the three major horse-drawn firefighting vehicles. However, it was the steamer, usually driven with horses harnessed two or three abreast, that provided the most spectacular sight as it flew down the street with smoke pouring from the funnel of its boiler, building up a head of steam to run the pumps.
Shelburne Museum
Shelburne Museum is a museum of art and Americana located in Shelburne, Vermont, United States. Over 150,000 works are exhibited in 39 exhibition buildings, 25 of which are historic and were relocated to the Museum grounds...
in Shelburne, Vermont
Shelburne, Vermont
Shelburne is a town in southwestern Chittenden County, Vermont, United States, along the shores of Lake Champlain. The population was 7,144 at the 2010 census.-History:...
. Both buildings exhibit a variety of Horse-drawn vehicle
Horse-drawn vehicle
A horse-drawn vehicle is a mechanized piece of equipment pulled by one horse or by a team of horses. These vehicles typically had two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers and/or a load...
s, including carriages, trade wagons, stagecoaches, and sleighs.
History
Electra Havemeyer WebbElectra Havemeyer Webb
Electra Havemeyer Webb was a collector of American antiques and founder of the Shelburne Museum.-Biography:Electra Havemeyer was born on August 16, 1888 to Henry O. Havemeyer and Louisine Elder, their youngest child...
’s desire to provide a suitable setting for the carriage collection of her father-in-law, Dr. William Seward Webb
William Seward Webb
William Seward Webb, M.D. was a businessman, and Inspector General of the Vermont militia with the rank of Colonel. He was a founder and former President of the Sons of the American Revolution.-Biography:...
, provided the inspiration for founding Shelburne Museum. She searched Vermont for a building to house these fine carriages and found a unique horseshoe-shaped dairy barn near Georgia, Vermont
Georgia, Vermont
Georgia is a town in Franklin County, Vermont, United States. The population was 4,375 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 45.2 square miles , of which, 39.5 square miles of it is land and 5.7 square miles of it ...
. When the owner declined to sell the barn, Electra Webb directed her staff to create a copy of the structure. Over a two-year period they located, moved, and assembled hand-hewn beams from twelve Vermont barns and stone from two gristmill
Gristmill
The terms gristmill or grist mill can refer either to a building in which grain is ground into flour, or to the grinding mechanism itself.- Early history :...
s to construct their own horseshoe barn on museum grounds.
Completed in July 1949, the massive structure, which is 238 ½ feet long and 32 feet (9.8 m) wide, incorporated 745 timbers, posts, and braces, 17000 feet (5,181.6 m) of plank and other boarding, and 9000 square feet (836.1 m²) of slate. Carpenters specially cut new clapboard
Clapboard (architecture)
Clapboard, also known as bevel siding or lap siding or weather-board , is a board used typically for exterior horizontal siding that has one edge thicker than the other and where the board above laps over the one below...
s for the exterior siding with an up-and-down saw (see Scroll Saw
Scroll saw
A scroll saw is a small electric or pedal-operated saw that is useful for cutting intricate curves in cases where a jigsaw or coping saw is not appropriate. It is capable of creating curves with edges...
) to recreate the markings found on the original building.
In 1957, after the addition of 150 more vehicles to the transportation collection, the museum constructed the Horseshoe Barn Annex to exhibit key examples from the collection using a combination of old and new materials.
Horseshoe barns
It appears that there are very few horseshoe-shaped barns in the United States. Of the two documented horseshoe barns in Vermont, only one still stands today. The Shelburne MuseumShelburne Museum
Shelburne Museum is a museum of art and Americana located in Shelburne, Vermont, United States. Over 150,000 works are exhibited in 39 exhibition buildings, 25 of which are historic and were relocated to the Museum grounds...
houses the only remaining horseshoe barn in Vermont; the Georgia, Vermont
Georgia, Vermont
Georgia is a town in Franklin County, Vermont, United States. The population was 4,375 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 45.2 square miles , of which, 39.5 square miles of it is land and 5.7 square miles of it ...
barn it was modeled after burned to the ground. There is still a road named Horseshoe Barn Road in Saint Albans, Vermont.
Other known horseshoe-shaped barns are:
- Llangollen estateLlangollen estateLlangollen estate is an historic American horse and cattle farm located in western Loudoun County, Virginia on Trappe Rd. near Upperville at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Eight miles from the town of Middleburg, the area is home to a number of prominent Thoroughbred-breeding farms and...
Carriage collection
The museum's carriage collection began with the vehicles owned by Dr. William Seward Webb and his wife Lila Vanderbilt Webb. Today it has come to include 225 horse-drawn vehicles. Since many of these vehicles came straight from their respective owners, many still retain their original upholstery and decoration.Horsedrawn vehicles
CarriageCarriage
A carriage is a wheeled vehicle for people, usually horse-drawn; litters and sedan chairs are excluded, since they are wheelless vehicles. The carriage is especially designed for private passenger use and for comfort or elegance, though some are also used to transport goods. It may be light,...
s and coach
Coach (carriage)
A coach was originally a large, usually closed, four-wheeled carriage with two or more horses harnessed as a team, controlled by a coachman and/or one or more postilions. It had doors in the sides, with generally a front and a back seat inside and, for the driver, a small, usually elevated seat in...
es began to be widely used in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
during the 17th century. However, real progress in carriage building was not made until the late 18th century, when Royal Mail
Royal Mail
Royal Mail is the government-owned postal service in the United Kingdom. Royal Mail Holdings plc owns Royal Mail Group Limited, which in turn operates the brands Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide...
coach service began. For the first time many carriages were designed for comfort and speed and were made alike, using interchangeable parts. Soon carriage driving became the fashionable way to travel, although for many years the cost of vehicles restricted their use primarily to the nobility and upper classes.
The manufacture of horse-drawn vehicles advanced more quickly in 19th-century America, where vehicles quickly became available to people of every social class. By the late 19th century, American coach builders had even developed light and practical vehicles that were available to the general public at low prices through mail order houses such as Sears and Roebuck. An elegant runabout
Runabout (carriage)
A horse-drawn runabout is a four-wheeled vehicle for informal, utilitarian travel or "running about" and getting things done. Sometimes called a "driving wagon", it is essentially very light in order to be easily hitched by one person, and easily pulled over long distances by a single horse.A...
made by Brewster & Co.
Brewster & Co.
Brewster & Company was an American coachbuilder, active from 1810-1937. Their first known bodywork on an automobile was in 1896, on an electric car, and a gasoline powered car in 1905, on a Delaunay-Belleville chassis. Eventually they would use chassis from a variety of makers...
, America’s finest coach builder, cost $425 in 1900; a runabout sold by Sears was $24.95.
Shelburne Museum
Shelburne Museum
Shelburne Museum is a museum of art and Americana located in Shelburne, Vermont, United States. Over 150,000 works are exhibited in 39 exhibition buildings, 25 of which are historic and were relocated to the Museum grounds...
’s collection of horse-drawn vehicles ranges from examples of 19th and early 20th century carriages, farm and trade wagons, stagecoach
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...
es, and sleighs; early firefighting equipment and almost every other type of vehicle used in New England in the 19th century. One of the most comprehensive collections in the country, the museum is particularly important because most of the vehicles retain their original upholstery, lamps, and decorative finishes.
Many of the museum's finest vehicles originally belonged to Dr. William Seward Webb
William Seward Webb
William Seward Webb, M.D. was a businessman, and Inspector General of the Vermont militia with the rank of Colonel. He was a founder and former President of the Sons of the American Revolution.-Biography:...
, father-in-law of Electra Havemeyer Webb
Electra Havemeyer Webb
Electra Havemeyer Webb was a collector of American antiques and founder of the Shelburne Museum.-Biography:Electra Havemeyer was born on August 16, 1888 to Henry O. Havemeyer and Louisine Elder, their youngest child...
, including a number of elegant carriages and coaches by New York’s Brewster & Co. and a remarkable pair of custom-made vehicles – a caleche and a satin-trimmed Berlin – by Million et Guiet of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
Rural Americans were often too busy to travel during the warm months, when farm chores kept them close to home. Winter brought more leisure time. Snow could be packed down with horse-drawn rollers to form a far smoother surface than was available on dirt roads at other times of the year. Sleighs were much easier to build and repair than wheeled vehicles; a home craftsperson without specialized training could construct and maintain them. For these reasons, the typical northern farm family owned three sleighs for every wheeled vehicle it kept.
Sleighs echoed wheeled vehicles in form. Some wheeled vehicles, like the museum’s hearse
Hearse
A hearse is a funerary vehicle used to carry a coffin from a church or funeral home to a cemetery. In the funeral trade, hearses are often called funeral coaches.-History:...
, could be converted from wheels to runners as the seasons changed. The museum’s sleighs range from small and simple homemade wooden cutters to elaborate, multi-passenger surreys
Surrey (carriage)
A surrey is a horse-drawn, four-wheeled, two-seated pleasure carriage with an open spindle seat.-Overview:The name comes from Surrey, the county in southern England where it was first built. It resembles a cabriolet but has a straight or nearly straight bottom, sometimes cut under...
, caleches, and victorias
Victoria (carriage)
The victoria was an elegant French carriage, possibly based on a phaeton made for King George IV of the United Kingdom. A victoria may be visualised as essentially a phaeton with the addition of a coachman's box-seat....
. The collection also includes a stage sleigh, a school bus sleigh, a butcher’s delivery sleigh and a police ambulance and paddy wagon sleigh.
Multi-passenger stagecoaches and omnibuses
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
provided public transportation for travelers within and between cities, from train stations to hotels, and on sight seeing trips. Businesses transported goods by horse, often using wagons and sleights that advertised their wares with decorative pictures and signage. Commercial vehicles in the museum’s collection include a Concord coach used to transport hotel guests in the White Mountains
White Mountains (New Hampshire)
The White Mountains are a mountain range covering about a quarter of the state of New Hampshire and a small portion of western Maine in the United States. Part of the Appalachian Mountains, they are considered the most rugged mountains in New England...
, a butcher’s wagon complete with hanging scales and meat hooks, a Maine druggist’s patent medicine wagon and a Pennsylvania Conestoga wagon
Conestoga wagon
The Conestoga wagon is a heavy, broad-wheeled covered wagon that was used extensively during the late 18th century and the 19th century in the United States and sometimes in Canada as well. It was large enough to transport loads up to 8 tons , and was drawn by horses, mules or oxen...
, used to haul produce from rural farms to city markets.
Vehicles were also essential to firefighters, who needed to transport water and equipment quickly. A variety of early firefighting vehicles are represented in the museum’s collection. The horse was a latecomer to firefighting, not pressed widely into service until the 1870s. To save precious time, horses were kept in the firehouse. Their stalls had break-away chains and, at the sound of the alarm, the horses raced to their places in front of the waiting equipment. Their collars and harnesses were suspended from the ceiling, poised like spiders in a web, ready to drop at a touch.
The steam-driven pumper, the hose wagon, and the hood-and-ladder truck became the three major horse-drawn firefighting vehicles. However, it was the steamer, usually driven with horses harnessed two or three abreast, that provided the most spectacular sight as it flew down the street with smoke pouring from the funnel of its boiler, building up a head of steam to run the pumps.
See also
- Shelburne MuseumShelburne MuseumShelburne Museum is a museum of art and Americana located in Shelburne, Vermont, United States. Over 150,000 works are exhibited in 39 exhibition buildings, 25 of which are historic and were relocated to the Museum grounds...
- Electra Havemeyer WebbElectra Havemeyer WebbElectra Havemeyer Webb was a collector of American antiques and founder of the Shelburne Museum.-Biography:Electra Havemeyer was born on August 16, 1888 to Henry O. Havemeyer and Louisine Elder, their youngest child...
- William Seward WebbWilliam Seward WebbWilliam Seward Webb, M.D. was a businessman, and Inspector General of the Vermont militia with the rank of Colonel. He was a founder and former President of the Sons of the American Revolution.-Biography:...
- BarnBarnA barn is an agricultural building used for storage and as a covered workplace. It may sometimes be used to house livestock or to store farming vehicles and equipment...
- Liz Whitney TippettLiz Whitney TippettMary Elizabeth Whitney Person Tippett was a wealthy American socialite and philanthropist who was a champion horsewoman and for more than fifty years, a prominent owner/breeder of Thoroughbred racehorses.Born in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, she was the daughter of Elizabeth Dobson and her husband...
(Llangollen estate)