Sleigh rides a popular winter sport a century ago in Berks
In snowy winters of yesteryear, sleighs were the way to go
Cracking whips, jingling harness bells and cries of “giddy up,” were familiar sounds during winters in Berks County a century and more ago.
The image of a horsedrawn sleigh gliding over a snowy country road is today closely associated with the holiday season. But into the early decades of the twentieth century, sleighs were an essential mode of travel and recreation throughout the winter season.
“Yesterday the sleighs were flying around briskly in all directions and the sleighing was pronounced good,” the Reading Times reported Dec. 28, 1880, after a snowfall blanketed the county.
The Times went on to describe the numerous “fast horses and fancy sleighs,” including lightweight cutters, built for speed; doorless twoseat surreys; and barouches with high box seats for their drivers.
Such a great variety was rare in earlier decades. Before the Civil War, the most common sleighs in Berks, were the high-backed family type, always painted yellow, according to the Times, and the heavy box-body type, akin to a wagon on runners. Both were drawn by teams of two or more draft horses. Primarily farm and mill conveyances, the latter were ideal for sleighing parties.
“A lot of straw was placed on the bottom, and the young men and women seated themselves on the straw,” a Times reporter wrote.
Snuggling under heavy furs and quilts, they braced against the crisp air for a thrilling ride over snow covered fields and back roads. Their destination was usually a country inn or tavern where the party enjoyed a hot meal and drinks, followed by music and dancing.
The first thing ordered, according to the Times, was a glass of “flip,” a type of cream ale served warm in large mugs.
“Every landlord had an iron rod about two feet long with a ball on the end about the size of a walnut,” the Times story read. “(This) was heated red hot and run into every glass of beer, which heated it and made it foam.”
After enough flip was consumed, the fiddler would strike up a tune and the dancing would begin. Two or three hours later, all would climb back into the sleigh for the ride home.
Not only country folk relished the outdoor sport. Sleighing was equally popular in the city.
One Times editor described the city scene after days of snowfall in late January, 1868. His account appeared in the Feb. 1 newspaper that year.
Out for a ride, the editor and his driver headed north on Fifth Street “where the creme de la creme of sleighs and sleighers generally drive to Andalusia Hall.”
The resort hotel stood on Centre Avenue, opposite the entrance to Charles Evans Cemetery.
Opened shortly after the Civil War, it became a popular venue for banquets, concerts and live theater, according to county historian George M. Meiser IX. James Hervey Sternbergh bought the land in 1891 and built his mansion, Stirling, now a guest house, on the site.
On the way to Andalusia, the editor and his companion saw a younger friend driving a “dapper little cutter.” They considered challenging the man to a race, but the cutter’s horse was charging in the opposite direction at 2.10, or a mile in two minutes and 10 seconds. So the pair continued on their way.
After warming themselves “internally and externally” at the hotel, they started back downtown, going head-tohead along the way with several two-horse sleighs carrying “lovely, smiling ladies dressed in fine furs and bundled under buffalo robes.” They also passed a sleigh full of cheerful young men and a “hale old couple” going at “an easy jog trot.”
Few outside the most prosperous city residents had the space or resources to own a sleigh and stable a horse. But that didn’t stop them from hiring the needed equipage from one of the many livery stables.
Among the showiest rentals was a four-horse sleigh, called Pocahontas, available at Joseph Hoch’s livery stable in the 400 block of Liberty Alley, now Court Street.
“The horses with their gay plumes, the silvery sound of the many bells and the beauty of the whole equipment make this turn out a great favorite with our sleigh-riding people,” read a brief item in the Jan. 31, 1866, edition of the Times.
Typical fees ranged up to $2 for a one- or two-hour rental at the time, depending on the size of the sleigh and number of horses needed.
“We expect the horse to be driven as hard as possible for the entire hour,” a Pottstown liveryman told a Times reporter, writing for the Jan. 21, 1879, edition. “Some of the teams do double service. After being used, they are brought home by the parties hiring and loaned to some friend in waiting. They are then returned to the stables.”
Although some of the early farm sleighs were crude homemade pieces, the majority were made by area carriage builders.
The Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles on South Walnut Street, Boyertown, has a number of locally made sleighs on display in its main gallery and several made in Boyertown in its workshop exhibit.
As snow conditions varied from year to year, some years were better for the sport than others. The first sleighing of the 1914-1915 season was reported on Dec. 14, while decades earlier in 1870, the first adequate snow didn’t arrive until Feb. 9. “Though much appreciated,” it was only “tolerable” for sleighing, according to the next day’s Times.
Surprisingly, few accounts of serious accidents appear in the local newspapers, though several mishaps were reported. Among these is the account of five young men, who leased a two-horse sleigh for a New Year’s Eve joyride.
The party was still in high gear at 1 a.m. New Year’s Day when someone in the neighborhood of Eighth and Washington streets set off a postmidnight firecracker, the Times reported Jan. 1, 1895. The loud bang spooked the horses and they took off at a “frightful rate of speed.”
The team came to a halt only after running five blocks and crashing into a storefront. The sleigh and store display window were damaged, but the men “tumbled out on a heap on the sidewalk” unscathed.
The sleighing season generally lasted through February and occasionally into March.
“It snowed yesterday and the day before ... and looks as if it might continue to snow for another night and day,” the Times read on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, 1899, after a late-season storm. “What magnificent prospects now for those who are fond of sleighing. And who does not love the sound of the merry, musical sleigh bells?
“Few are those who cannot enter into the spirit of a sleigh ride.”