The Canadian calèche differs greatly from the French calèche, which is a four-wheeled vehicle. The body of this two-wheeled Canadian example rests upon leather braces which are suspended from C-shaped supports.
This vehicle displays an extensive use of striping for decoration, but in a restrained manner. “The variety of styles in striping are limited,” said I. D. Ware in his instructions to carriage painters in 1875, “When we discard those which lessen rather than increase the beauty of the work. We first had the fine line enlivened by being dotted at the ends of each stripe ... gradually changes took place in the quantity of striping run on as the desire arose for gaudy colors. Modest and retiring colors were in great measure abandoned, ushering in straw, orange, red and crimson and these were followed and accompanied with a perfect shower of gold leaf.”
MOUNTAIN WAGON
Body painted very dark green, striped in red; gear black. Trimmed in black leather.
This mountain wagon was originally owned by the Mount Pleasant Hotel up in the Crawford Notch, New Hampshire. At the turn of the century, these elegant resort hotels in the White mountains used these wagons to take their guests to the summit where an elaborate picnic lunch was served to them.
Note the hand brake—it is exceptionally sturdy, for one of these vehicles carrying its full quota of passengers weighed a considerable amount, and checking the rate of descent of the steep mountain roads was somewhat of a problem. This vehicle was built by the Abbot-Downing Company of Concord, New Hampshire.
