July 21, 2012
Did you see the wonderful photo of A. G. Vanderbilt’s Belmont coach in New York, which I linked to several days ago?
I’ve been browsing around on the site where that photo lives, and I’ve found more!
First, here’s a photo from 1912, of Mrs. William E. Borah, wife of Senator Borah from Idaho, in a Baker electric car. The car’s design is clearly still based on popular carriage designs.
Stay tuned … I’ll post a link to another one tomorrow!
July 20, 2012
If you’re a member of the Carriage Association of America, you may have already seen this news (and the photo) in last week’s issue of The Spokesperson, our e-newlsetter. If you’re not a CAA member but want to learn more, take a look at the CAA website. If you are a member but aren’t getting the weekly newletter, let me know!
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The new bridal carriage for the “Landshut Wedding 1475” festival (in southern Germany) was built in Vienna under the auspices of CAA life member Rudolf H. Wackernagel, a leading expert in the area of medieval coach-building. Thanks to a meticulous analysis of historical sources, it was possible to accurately reproduce medieval construction techniques.
The carriage, which is a unique specimen and the only one of its kind worldwide, was presented to the festival’s organizers at an international press conference on July 7.
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Although paintings in the ceremonial room of the Landshut town hall depict many details of the 1475 wedding (which the festival recreates each year), they do not show the undercarriage of the golden vehicle that Princess Hedwig of Poland used for her long journey to Landshut to wed Duke George the Rich of the Lower Bavarian branch of the Wittelsbach dynasty. Owing to this lack of information, the undercarriage of the festival carriage built in 1903 and used up until now was too small, and its fifth wheel was a modern one. In 2010, the festival’s organizers, in their ongoing effort to improve the festival’s historical details, ordered a “new” bridal carriage.
During next year’s fortieth reenactment of the “Landshut Wedding 1475” (June 28-July 21, 2013), eight dappled horses – the preferred breed of princes – will draw the magnificent carriage, which boasts rear wheels almost the size of a man and two pairs of carved lions bearing the coat of arms of Poland on either side of the axle rods.
July 19, 2012
… is done (finally), and all the files are in the printer’s hands. Yesterday, I was scrambling to get it finished, burned to DVD, and dropped off at FedEx, and completely forgot to post anything here. And it turns out that I may not have the finished cover to share with you quite as soon as I had promised. Our friendly printer, who is just up near Cincinnati, usually drives to the Horse Park with the proofs (at which time I can scan the proof of the cover), but we’ll be reviewing PDF proofs for this issue. Why, you ask? Because the Horse Park’s entrance and parking lot are going to be a mad-house tomorrow, as BOTH BreyerFest and the North American Junior / Young Riders Championships are here this weekend. We convinced Henry that it would be wiser not to try to get in to see us.
And he’s lucky that I made it to FedEx last night to ship off the DVD of magazine files …
While I was doing one last proof of everything, yesterday evening — correcting a last few mistakes and typos and the like — a severe thunderstorm blew through the area. First the National Weather Service announcements kept breaking in on the radio, and then the storm siren here at the Horse Park wailed at us, not once, but twice. And then the storm blew in. I could see low-hanging, black clouds; wind whipping the tree branches (coming from the opposite direction of our normal wind); and leafy whirlwinds outside my office window; and I could hear things blowing over and buckets of rain coming down. And top it off, my office lights kept flickering. All I could think was, “Stay on, electricity, stay on!” (as we don’t have a very good track record in that regard here).
But I managed to get everything finished and get the DVD burned and delivered safely to FedEx.
The magazine is scheduled to be mailed to all current CAA members on August 1. Not a member? You can read about the Carriage Association and our magazine here.
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… Hey, is that more thunder I hear?
July 17, 2012
Thanks to Allyn for sending the link to this fabulous old photo.
In this 1905 view of New York’s Fifth Avenue are pedestrians, horse-drawn delivery vehicles, a mounted policeman, a Hansom Cab, and Alfred Vanderbilt’s Belmont coach, all passing in front of the Holland House Hotel.
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July 16, 2012
Today, I’m knee-deep in (and, I hope, almost finished with) laying out the August issue of The Carriage Journal.
I’m happy to say that this lovely photo, from the presentation pleasure drive at our recent CAA Carriage Festival, will be gracing the cover. If I can get everything off to the printer as scheduled, I should be able to show you the actual cover by the end of the week!
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The Slower Road 