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I have a new interview out and will be making guest appearances on two blogs. Click here for details...
website art by
Henry thor Straten
historic site photography by Mark D. Lax
and
Mitchell Erauth
biography photograph by
Steven E. Purcell
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Living History:
Thoughts and Observations
from Recent Research
When we started the museum tour, I didn’t bother to take notes because most of the collection was past “my” time period. This was the El Pomar Association Carriage Museum outside the Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs, and I was just trying to kill time on a cold, rainy day. Since the oldest carriage in the collection dated to 1841 and my historicals focus on 18th and early 19th C settings, I figured whatever I learned here would be purely for fun. But several times our tour guide said something that I thought I might want to remember later. So finally, half an hour into the tour, I excused myself to borrow scratch paper from the front desk so that I could take notes.
It was the carriage horn signals that did it. In addition to a collection of horns of all sizes, the museum had sheet music depicting the tune of different signals drivers would use to tell others to “clear the road” “move to the right” or even “buy a broom,” which was apparently an insult. If anyone can tell me WHY that’s an insult, please do! I’ll take guesses, too. Anyone who submits a good guess will win prize.
Anyway, even though this particular sheet of music was dated to 1901, I imagine that the use of musical signals probably goes back a little further, particularly in England where narrow roads hemmed in with tall hedges made it difficult for vehicles to see oncoming traffic.
Another interesting and surprisingly common feature of the carriages in the collection was the angle of the driver’s seat in carriages popular with “dashing young gentlemen.” Vehicles like phaetons and gigs hold only two people, so the gentleman serves as his own driver. Often the horses that pulled them were only “green broke” meaning that they were trained to wear a harness but not how to behave well in one. When they took off with a jerk, the angled seat enabled the driver to brace his feet against the floor and keep from being pulled out.
Phaetons could be dangerous vehicles if driven fast since they were prone to tip over. The museum has “ladies phaetons” with a lower center of gravity and more space for climbing up so that ladies might stand some chance of getting in without getting their gowns dirty on the wheels. There are also English and American gigs placed side by side for comparison. The English has a high axle to clear the mud of London streets. The American is a much lower vehicle with an even lower axle for stability in country winds. American carriages were also lower because on average, American carriage horses were an about two hands shorter than their British counterparts.
The musuem has a mail coach—what we usually call a stage coach—along with an 1860s list of “tips for mail passengers” with hints such as “spit on the leeward side.” Our tour guide also pointed out that you didn’t want to sit behind the driver because he would be spitting pretty regularly himself. And the windows would, of course, be open.
Ladies would be seated in the inside of this type of coach, while gentlemen might ride above. Many of the vehicles claimed to be able to hold well over ten passengers on top and to me that sounds even more likely to tip than a phaeton.
All in all, it was a fascinating collection made even more interesting by the enthusiasm of the very knowledgeable tour guide. There was even a small “bath car” that was built to be pull invalids through the spa town of Bath. It was pulled not by a horse but by a servant. From the size of the thing, though, I would say it would have to be a servant who was built like a horse.
During the hour-long tour, our guide regaled us with many stories about the origins of everything from dashboards to tailgating to cocktails. I’m not sure everything could be taken as literal truth (there are, for example, about a million different stories about the origin of the term “cocktail,”) but he definitely provided some food for thought. So what started out as a quick trip to kill time ended as a noteworthy visit. I just wish I’d started taking the notes earlier.
Until next time...
--k
copyright 2008 Kate Dolan |
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What's New?
Now available in ebook; scheduled for print release in the fall
(click on cover to learn more)
My traditional Regency The Appearance of Impropriety, a sequel to A Certain Want of Reason, is now out in ebook format. I had a lot of ideas for the cover of this one, and I have to say this wasn't what I had in mind. Still, it's a funny story so I guess it's okay to have a funny-looking guy on the front.
At least his hair is sort of the right color now. Originally, the goofy-cover-guy had dark hair and blue eyes. My theory is that since the hero is a naval officer, they were trying to make him look like Ioan Gruffudd, the actor who played Horatio Hornblower in the BBC miniseries. Anyway, when I asked if they could make some changes, I got darker eyes and lighter hair. But we've still got the goofy-guy face.
Ah, well...maybe in another life I will be a cover artist!
Leaving nothing to chance, my daughter is doing the cover design for the book we're working on together. Now we just have to make time to finish it!
So, anyway, back to the goofy-guy book...it will probably be available in print in a few months. But the impact of the funny face is probably less if you buy the ebook version. So act now, don't delay, buy him in ebook where you can hide his face deep inside your computer. Otherwise, if you wait for print, you'll have his ugly mug staring at you from your bookshelf, giving you bad or at least mildly unpleasant dreams.
Since I like pirates (which doesn't make sense, because by and large they are not likeable guys) I will probably keep the link for the trailer to Avery's Treasure on here for a long time. Click on pirate flag to watch the book trailer and click on the Howard Pyle painting below to read more about the book. I had a lot of fun writing it, but I have fun with all my books or I wouldn't be doing this!
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