Carriage Museum

A range of horse-drawn carriages from the 19th and early 20th centuries fills the Carriage Museum, literally to its rafters. This unique collection presents a broad scope of two- and four-wheeled vehicles and sleighs. Examples include everything from the basic horse-drawn conveyance that characterized the 19th-century rural scene to utility vehicles and sporting rigs to pleasure carts to veteran vehicles from the harness track. Elegant carriages and coaches, manufactured by widely recognized companies such as The Brewster Company of New York and Rochester's James Cunningham Company, also are well represented at the Carriage Museum.

By far, the largest vehicle in the collection is the 12-horse hitch wagon from the Genesee Brewing Company.

Although many of the carriages represented in the museum were made and used in America, some represent those from other countries. For example, a team of four antique papier mache horses, once used by harness makers to display their wares, are harnessed to a 19th-century Victorian carriage that once belonged to Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary.

Over the years, the museum has acquired this vast assemblage of carriages from many different sources, including private collectors. When the previously owned carriages were not in mint condition, skilled craftsmen meticulously restored and re-equipped the vehicles with period-appropriate gear. Today, the buggies, wagons, rigs and sleighs that once logged hundreds of miles on bumpy country roads and the somewhat smoother pavement of city streets now make a colorful lesson in one mode of transportation in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Carriage Museum is located adjacent to the great meadow. Hours are the same as the historic village and admission is included with a museum day pass.