History
- An Outline
- Maps
- A Yates County Gallery
«Topics
«People
«Places
«Lists
«Pictures
««The Mansion House
««A Top Buggy
««The Court House
««Croquet on the Lawn
A Top Buggy
The 1890s produced some of the most elegant vehicles ever seen on local roads. This beautiful top buggy was made in Penn Yan and advertised for sale locally and regionally. The Whitfield factory where it was manufactured is still standing on East Elm Street in Penn Yan.
Not everyone could afford a vehicle as sophisticated as this one, and of course its cargo space was limited. Literally dozens of specialized carriages, buggies and wagons were turned out in local factories. A thriving forging business grew up in the village of Dundee to make parts for the several carriage factories there. At least two of the water-powered mills on the Keuka Lake Outlet produced some of the millions of spokes needed for all these wooden wheels, in fact eventually all the parts were made in one of these mills, all except for the iron tires.