Articles & Stories
Reminiscing Back To The Buggy Days In Irvine, Estill County
There Were Few Parking Problems, Few Highway Accidents, And Few Drunken Buggy Drivers
By C. M. Treadway
It
was hard to get a good used buggy in Irvine, Estill County, Kentucky,
before 1900, but occasionally one could be found. To get a new
one the purchaser had to travel to far away Richmond, which seemed
as far away as Atlanta, Georgia, does today.
The Kentucky Carriage Works, located in the Madison County seat,
sold nice, shiny vehicles; including two-wheeled carts, spring
wagons, and buggies with head-lamps. The fastest way to get there
was by horseback over trails that were becoming roads through
increasing use.
The first buggies to come into Irvine were brought in by citizens
who had the money and physical endurance to get them from Richmond.
Usually, it took about two days to make the round trip. On speedier
trips a change of horses was necessary, this being taken care
of at a half-way store near the Estill-Madison County border.
Road Hard On Buggies
When the first buggy came into Irvine it was well-broken in.
The driver was grimed with dirt, and some older folks wondered
"what the generation was coming to" and "how did
they ever get that thing across the river?"
Regular stagecoaches once used the old river ferry, and they
also met trains at West Irvine, beginning about 1891. Passengers
would be ferried across the Kentucky River and taxied up and
down the stream out of Irvine.
The buggy, to the average citizen, was something like the small
car is to the average person today, only you got better fuel
mileage out of the buggy. The stagecoach was the first bus, and
the traffic between Irvine and Richmond was increasing, but there
was no hot-rodding. Often it became necessary for a buggy driver
to pass a slower vehicle, such as a wagon or a sled, and they
usually kicked up a lot of dust in doing so. This was accomplished
by wild yelling and some extra lashes of the whip on the laboring
horses.
George Edgar Brandenburg, age 31, and
Ollie Young, age 23, on their wedding day, November 18, 1909.
This was George's second marriage. He was previously married
to Rachael Crowe, and they had four children, of which only two
were still living at the time of this marriage. George was the
son of James Brandenburg and Millie Ginter Brandenburg. He ran
a blacksmith shop on Back Street in Irvine and was also a carpenter
and cabinet maker. George and Ollie had several children. George
died March 6, 1937, at the age of 59, and he and Ollie are buried
in the Kidwell Cemetery at South Irvine.
(Photo courtesy of the Estill County Historical Society, submitted
by C. M. Treadway)
Few
Highway Accidents
There were few highway accidents, except infrequent turnovers
caused by protruding rocks or humps in the road. Such obstructions
caused the light-wheeled vehicles to flip over, causing the driver
to jump clear and run turkey-fashion to keep from getting hurt.
Often a frightened steed would tear away from the rutted pathway
and plunge into brush and woodland, leaving straw hats on the
ground and pieces of torn shirts in the thorns.
Some buggies contained luxury accessories, such as headlamps,
shields, soft leather seats, window shades, and other options.
The most frequent types seen in Estill County were without tops.
On some of the more fancy models were cloth or canvas tops, extra
foot steps, hard tops, and front canvas shields.
The shields were improvements to prevent horses from throwing
mud and "other debris" into the mouths and faces of
the riders. When mechanical trouble developed a buggy could quickly
be fixed at one of Irvine's blacksmith shops.
The parking problem was very little bother, and traffic lights
were about 25 years away. If two buggies were suddenly to meet
on a sharp turn, the right-of-way problem was soon settled in
a gentlemanly way, and each driver proceeded on his way.
Few Drunken Buggy Drivers
Cases of old Estill Court records indicate the buggies have transported
mountain moonshine and some brands of rum but no revelations
of drunken-buggy-driving arrests.
Two imported workers at the old Fitchburg ironworks snatched
a horse and buggy and rode it all the way to the Kentucky River,
where they abandoned it and fled.
There is no doubt that there were many cases of budding romances
in the horse-drawn buggies, and at that time the buggy began
competing with the parlor sofa for courting purposes.
The manufacture of buggies, carriages, and wagons throughout
the 19th century was an important industry. Many types of horse-drawn
vehicles were produced during that period including the buckboard,
surrey, and the prairie schooner.
The carriage and buggy dates from earliest history and is a development
of a thing called a sledge, a platform on runners.
In 1910 Nelson Walters, a millwright at West Irvine, bought a
horseless carriage. He is said to be the first person in Estill
County to have owned an automobile. By 1919 there were 158 automobiles
and 14 trucks in the county, almost outnumbering the buggies
and wagons.
C. M. Treadway, P. O. Box 318, Irvine, KY 40336, shares this article with our readers.