Covered Wagons and Carriages – Hands-on-History

We’ve been wanting to make a visit to the Remington Carriage Museum in Cardston, Alberta, for quite some time. Their amazing collection of wagons and carriages is second to none and their facility is the largest ever built for a carriage collection in the world.

Since we have been studying the history of Canada, especially western Canada, the Remington fit right in with our lessons, since its collection of over 240 horse-drawn vehicles helps tell the story of transportation in our country in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

In addition, a special exhibit, McLaughlin Carriages, was created for Canada’s 150th birthday and tells the story of a family who not only provided carriages to Canadians, but they also moved into automobiles and joined with Buick before becoming an integral part of the General Motors Company. A real lesson in perseverance and belief that, with hard work, you can succeed. (Our grandson, EJ, was terribly excited to learn that McLaughlin manufactured his favorite Chevrolets at one time!)

Entering the museum, EJ was eager to begin in the galleries straight away. There were displays of covered wagons, which brought settlers across the prairies, chuckwagons from the early days of the cattle drives in Alberta, little wooden “cabooses” that were used by families to take their children to school, and many other quite primitive conveyances, including the famous Red River carts to look at and learn about. (EJ thought the little wooden stoves in the cabooses were pretty neat, if a bit scary; what if your blankets caught fire!?)

The staff at the Remington are excellent and love to help out by answering questions. They also provide guided tours and will tailor them to your interests, if the day isn’t too busy.

Moving forward in history, we came to the Pony Express stagecoaches and fancy carriages that were once used to carry royalty and government officials. The collection also includes a taxi once owned by Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, and a Studebaker carriage made for President Ulysses S. Grant. We also got to visit the restoration shop and learned how they build and rebuild these historic vehicles.

After taking a horse-drawn wagon ride (in the rain), we were invited to tour the barns, where we met some of the beautiful horses that call the Remington home. As luck would have it, they were preparing for an appearance in the Calgary Stampede Parade later that week, so we got to see the freshly polished tack (equipment used to ride a horse, such as saddles) all ready for the event. We made sure to cheer them on nice and loud along the parade route as we watched them pull the Cardtson Trolley along 9th Avenue in Calgary, especially since we knew they had left home at 2:00 in the morning to get there on time!

We had a terrific day and learned a lot. I also kept notes and EJ took pictures, so we could include our newfound knowledge into our history lessons once we got home. I didn’t need to worry, though, as these hands-on-history lessons always seem to be the easiest to remember!

Kimberly Linkletter – After a 20-plus year career in politics and government, my life took a turn and I became a homeschooling gramma to our energetic and adventurous grandson EJ. There is nothing we like better than loading up our car and hitting the road to see what we can see. As my girls have always said, “Mom says everywhere is on the way to somewhere,” so we love to take detours along our route. You find some of the best places that way!

We keep busy reviewing homeschool products, visiting small town (and not so small town) diners and cafes, museums, National Parks, hotels, and campgrounds. EJ and I (Miss Kimmy to my friends) love to share our adventures with you here on Vintage Blue Suitcase.