Colonial Williamsburg's Coaches For more than 50 years, Colonial ...

The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Office of Communications
P.O. Box 1776
Williamsburg, Va. 23187-1776
www.history.org
Colonial Williamsburg’s Coaches
For more than 50 years, Colonial Williamsburg’s guests have enjoyed touring Duke of
Gloucester Street in the manner and fashion of the 18th century as passengers on one of the
Foundation’s horse-drawn coaches. The coach and livestock program has been operating these
unique tours continuously since 1947, when daily carriage rides through the Historic Area were
offered for 50 cents per person. Today, more than 50,000 guests embark on the 15- or 30-
minute journey through Colonial Williamsburg annually.
Of the 10 carriages owned by the Foundation, eight carriages are reserved for the use of guests
and visiting dignitaries, while the rest serve as interpretive vehicles for re-enactments and
special programming. Colonial Williamsburg’s operating carriages include:
The Randolph Coach. Colonial Williamsburg purchased its first carriage in 1929, the
“Goode Coach” constructed circa 1850. In 1949 the vehicle was altered to more closely
resemble a late 18th-century coach. Rechristened the Peyton Randolph Coach, it is
adorned with the Randolph family coat-of-arms. Typical of lightweight coaches of the
colonial era, the Randolph Coach exemplifies what the renowned 18th-century carriage
maker William Felton described as “a four-wheeled, closed vehicle with two seats facing
each other inside, and a coachman’s seat or box in front...for families [it is] the most
convenient of any in use.” To this day, the Randolph Coach conveniently shuttles families
about Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Area.
The Mulberry Phaeton. Legend has it this coach, or Britzka, as it was known in its
original form, was custom-made in London circa 1850 for a proposed Canadian tour by
Queen Victoria. The planned royal visit didn’t come to pass, and, in 1940, Colonial
Williamsburg bought the coach for $500. An extensive overhaul completed in 1950
refashioned the vehicle along the lines of an 18th-century Phaeton. Now known as the
Mulberry Phaeton, this coach is still in daily use at Colonial Williamsburg.
The Wythe Chariot. Purchased in 1940, the Wythe Chariot was originally known as
the Lafayette Coach and was constructed sometime around 1825-50. In 1951 it was
converted to the style of a late 18th-century chariot or “half-coach” – so named because it
only had one seat behind the coachman’s box. In 1768 George Wythe wrote from
Williamsburg to London requesting “a well built handsome post-chariot” decorated with
his family’s coat-of-arms. The same family crest graces Colonial Williamsburg’s Wythe
Chariot in memory of one of the city’s most prominent and influential patriots.
The Blue Sociable. The oldest of the coaches built specifically for the Foundation, the
Blue Sociable was constructed by Colonial Williamsburg in 1950. It was modeled after
the Beekman Coach, one of only three 18th-century American coaches that have survived
in their original condition. William Felton’s treatise on carriage design and visual
depictions by Taylor and Ackerman of “Sociables” – a popular model of coach during the
colonial period – provided additional insight into the creation of the vehicle. Felton
described the Sociable as being “intended for the pleasure of gentlemen to use in parks,
or on little excursions with their families, [but] they are also peculiarly convenient for the
conveying of servants from one residence to another.” Colonial Williamsburg’s Blue
Sociable is still in use on the streets of the Historic Area, where it continues to give rides
to visitors.

Colonial Williamsburg Coaches – PAGE 2
The Landau. The Foundation’s VIP coach, the Landau, was constructed by Colonial
Williamsburg personnel with the assistance of carriage authority Paul Downing in 1960.
Named for the German town from which they originated, Landau carriages were in use
in England by the mid-18th century. Felton described them as “built in the manner of a
coach but with the upper part of the body to open at pleasure.” There was at least one
Landau in colonial Virginia; the 1775-76 inventory of Philip Ludwell Lee of Stratford in
Westmoreland County lists such a vehicle. For this reason, Colonial Williamsburg’s
Landau is emblazoned with the Lee family coat-of-arms, whose Latin motto reads, “Ne
incautus future” (“Not heedless of the future”). It is used primarily for special events and
visiting heads-of-state. Notable passengers have included Richard Nixon, King Hussein
of Jordan, Emperor Hirohito and Empress Nagako of Japan, Lady Bird Johnson, Ronald
Reagan, King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway, United Nations Secretary General
Koffi Annan and Queen Elizabeth II of England, as well as past prime ministers of
Greece, Turkey, Malaysia, India, Taiwan, Denmark, Italy, Pakistan, Tunisia, Ireland,
Canada and Japan.
The Robert Carter Coach. In 2001 work began on Colonial Williamsburg’s first new
coach in four decades, made possible through the generosity of Maureen and Jim
Gorman. Completed the following year by Florian Staudner of Vienna, Austria, it is based
on an 18th-century English traveling coach in the ownership of Andre Becker of
Coisigners, France. The coach takes its name from an 18th-century member of
Williamsburg’s gentry, who in 1773 ordered “a strong, fashionable coach without a box,
no guilding thereon, but neatly painted and varnished, the body to be lined with blue
leather.” Carter’s coach was built in London by Joseph Jacobs Jr. for a then-exorbitant
£119. In his honor, today’s Robert Carter Coach bears his family’s coat-of-arms, which
includes the Latin motto, “Purus Sceleris” (“Pure in regards to wickedness or crime”).
The Royal Governor’s Coach. Upon completion of the Robert Carter Coach,
Staudner set to work on the newest addition to Colonial Williamsburg’s carriage fleet,
once again through the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Gorman. Completed in 2005, it is an
exact replica of an 18th-century coach in the keeping of the Museum of the Palazzo
Farnese in Piacenza, Italy. Unique among the Foundation’s carriages, this luxurious
enclosed town coach would have been a mark of wealth and prestige in colonial America.
Just such a vehicle was built for Williamsburg’s last royal governor, Lord Dunmore, by
Elkanah Deane, who in 1773 wrote, “I made, in the city of New York, for his Excellency
the Right Honorable Earl of Dunmore, a coach, phaeton, and a chaise, which may now be
seen by any gentleman that has an inclination.” Today, Lord Dunmore’s town coach can
once again be seen on the streets of Virginia’s colonial capital by any visitors with an
inclination.
The Stage Wagon. The Stage Wagon is a primitive type of public traveling carriage,
used both in England and America, during the 18th and early 19th centuries. The earliest
forms were nothing more than ordinary covered wagons with several transverse benches
inside. In America, a gradual improvement took place in the construction of the Stage
Wagon during the last third of the 18th century. In 1964 Colonial Williamsburg had a
Stage Wagon built modeled on the types used in the third quarter of the 18th century.
The body is hung on thorough braces and the body has a permanent standing top,
supported by eight pillars, leaving the sides open, with roll down curtains that could be
let down in inclement weather. Passengers sit on transverse benches, with the driver
often sharing his seat with one or two passengers. A costumed Stage Wagon driver
guides the brightly painted yellow vehicle, which has space for nine passengers.
Colonial Williamsburg’s coach and livestock program is dedicated to furthering the authenticity
of the restored 18th-century capital by ensuring that the vehicles and animals present in the
Historic Area reflect as accurately as possible those that would have been seen on the streets of

Colonial Williamsburg Coaches – PAGE 3
Williamsburg during the colonial era. The Foundation’s restored and original carriages adhere
to modern standards of safety and comfort while faithfully embodying the designs and materials
of genuine 18th-century coachmakers.
— CWF —
Media contacts:
Jim Bradley
jbradley@cwf.org
Penna Rogers
progers@cwf.org
(757) 220-7286
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