Carriages of Monroe County West Virginia

This book serves as a guide for the Carriage House Museum that the Monroe County Historical Society has recently completed in Union, WV. Our carriages, wagons, tackle, tools and pictures are on display in this new timber-frame structure, which is, itself, a display of period craftsmanship. The flagship of our fleet is a rare 1880's Omnibus marked "Chalybeate Springs" and "Sweet Springs Hotel." This impressive coach ferried tourists to and from the Alleghany Railway Station to once-faamous resort spas of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Other vehicles include elegant carriages and sleighs as well as the more utilitarian buggies and farm wagons. Enjoy illustrations of these vehicles, as well as numerous vintage photos of carriages and wagons from throughout Monroe County. Read stories about the carriages' drivers and owners, the early road systems they traversed, the resort spas they serviced, and the trade and industry they supported. Original sources are quoted extensively to transport the reader back to a time and technology that are fading rapidly from our beautiful rural West Virginia county.