Granger Homestead and Carriage Museum presents "The Sights and Sounds of Winter" in its 2011 themed display.
Cool off this summer viewing the “everyday” to the “out on the town” sleighs used on our streets in snowy Western New York.
What was the purpose of jingle bells on a sleigh one-hundred years ago? How many different styles of sleighs were used in Western New York? What did the song mean by “the horse knows the way to carry the sleigh through the ice and drifting snow?” These and other questions will be answered for visitors to the 2011 gallery display at the Granger Homestead and Carriage Museum in Canandaigua, New York.
In 2011, the theme for the carriage museum’s main gallery will be “Sights and Sounds of Winter” and will feature vehicles associated with winter transportation. These featured vehicles are part of the overall Granger Carriage Museum collection, which numbers nearly 100 vehicles. The vehicles at the Granger Homestead make up one of the premier regional carriage collections in the United States because each vehicle was either used or built in Western New York. Visitors can easily image what a snowy Western New York State Main Street might have looked like one-hundred years ago.
The featured vehicles help visitors to interpret the lives of the people who drove them. Collectively, they are all winter vehicles. Individually, they are specifically designed to suit a particular purpose and niche market. In general, cutters and sleighs have narrow metal runners similar to sleds used by baby boomers in their childhood days. A cutter is a small passenger vehicle with runners and a seatboard that could be drawn by one horse and hold two adults. A sleigh is a larger passenger vehicle that holds four or more adults. It could be drawn by one or two horses. A bobsled is a utility vehicle with wider ski-like runners that can be used to haul firewood from the forest or take the family on a fun outing. The gallery displays everything from a Portland Cutter to an elegant Landau Sleigh.
The Portland cutter represents the everyday vehicle that most Americans could afford to buy and use daily. The Portland cutter got it’s name from Peter Kimball and his sons of Portland, Maine. Originally called the Kimball Cutter, the name Portland Cutter came into popular use. One of the features of the Portland Cutter was a “corner” at the back of the vehicle forming the seat. Portland cutters had an upholstered seats and a curved dashboard. One of the hazards of winter driving was snowballs coming off of the horse’s feet and being flung towards the driver. The curved dash deflected the snowballs away from the vehicle passengers and added a beautiful flair to the vehicle. The Portland Cutters could be made from very plain materials and have a very affordable price tag. Some were trimmed with elegant silk plush upholstery with ornate painted scenes on the back panel, and carried a very expensive price tag. The Portland Cutter on display at the Granger Homestead belonged to Judge Joseph Cribb and represented a basic, affordable vehicle. It has a black body with red pin-striping and red upholstered seats.
The country sleigh on bobs is an upscale utility vehicle. It has an upholstered front seat board with a narrow rail and lower back support. The back compartment is a small cargo area. When used as a utility vehicle, it could be taken to town to pick up 50lbs. of flour at the general store or to run errands. It also had a rear seat that could be secured into the cargo area, allowing the family to take for adults to church, visiting friends, or just on a winter drive. While beautifully painted, it does not have springs on its and passengers would have felt the roughness of the terrain.
The Albany-style vehicle was made both as a cutter and a sleigh. The James Gould Carriage Works in Albany, New York originated this design. Made almost completely of steam-bent wood, the body is known as a “swell-body” and is easily identified by its elegant lines. Due to the craftsmanship necessary to bend the wood and still have a strong, robust vehicle that would hold up to travel over unseen ruts and uneven frozen ground, not all carriage works could make such a vehicle. Therefore, the Albany-style was considered an upper middle class vehicle. The Albany sleigh on display at the Granger Homestead is a four-passenger vehicle with a bonnet (top) that can be raised or lowered depending on the weather. This vehicle has continuous runners from the front to the back and upholstered seats but no springs. While beautiful to behold, it had a little bit of a rough ride and could not make tight turns which were sometimes required by the narrow streets in town. Different manufacturers made Albany-style vehicles with body springs, fine upholstery, and set them on bobs.
The Rowerdink sleigh on bobs is the next step up in winter comfort. This sleigh can accommodate four passengers and has two sets of runners underneath it. The front sets of runners turn, which makes it easy to maneuver on the narrow streets. It also has springs between the body and the runners which take out the thumps and bumps when the sleigh goes over frozen ruts under the snow. Both the front and the back seats are fully upholstered adding even more comfort for passengers. This vehicle was built in Rochester, New York by the Rowerdink Company.
The ultimate in winter transportation would be an enclosed sleigh. Since the horses had to pull every ounce of the combined weight of the vehicle and the passengers, enclosed sleighs required at least a pair of horses. The Landau sleigh is such a vehicle. The finely upholstered seats inside would accommodate four adults. The box seat on the front of the sleigh would accommodate the coachman (driver) and the groom. This Landau sleigh has many creature comforts built into it. It has multiple body springs to provide a comfortable ride, soapstone foot warmers set into the interior floor to add heat to a cold winter day and a folding top which meets in the middle allowing the vehicle to be used as either an open or a fully enclosed vehicle. Only the very wealthy could have afforded such an elegant coachman driven vehicle. Visitors are invited to peak inside the Granger Landau to see how the rich may have traveled in winter.
To make our display more interactive, there will be items for the visitors to feel and jingle. Lap robes were used to keep passengers warm, since most vehicles had no heat source. Touch our lap robes to see how heavy they were and what materials were used. Explore the various types of foot warmers used during the winters. Jingle the sleigh bells, shaft chimes and saddle chimes to hear the different melodies and find out why each was used. Climb into our bonneted Portland Cutter that is harnessed to E-Z-Keeper (our very cooperative fiberglass horse) and get your picture taken. Take a copy home for your 2011 holiday postcards.
The Granger Homestead and Carriage Museum is a vacationer’s delight in Canandaigua, NY. From June to October, the museum is open Tuesday - Sunday for guided tours of the 1816 Federal Style mansion, three carriage barns, plus the Hubble law office. The magnificent mansion was built by Gideon Granger, postmaster general for Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Gideon came to Canandaigua to assist in settling the estate of his boy-hood friend, Oliver Phelps. This is the Phelps of the Phelps and Gorham land purchase which opened western New York for settlement after the Revolutionary War. One of his original 1816 barns is still on the property and is home to an agricultural tool display. Two other barns house the rest of the carriages, making this one of the largest public collections in the northeast United States. Museum docents (tour guides) explain the style of the vehicles, who might have used it, and tell interesting stories about them.
Want to experience a carriage ride? Then take a 45-minute narrated carriage tour in a restored antique carriage with a period-costumed driver. Select the path through the historic district and onto the grounds of Sonnenberg Gardens on Fridays or Sundays or learn about the former famous and infamous local residents as you tour through Woodlawn Cemetery on Wednesdays. Carriages are also available for Victorian Tea parties at Granger, weddings, parties, or corporate events. Family-friendly special events occur throughout the year, so visit the website at www.grangerhomestead.org or call 585-394-1472 to listen to our upcoming events. Don’t forget to visit us in the wintertime for one-horse open sleigh rides.