*This exhibition has completed its tour and is no longer in circulation. These pages are included for archival reference only.

Carriages — not cars — once ruled the road.

These forerunners of automobiles and trucks were absolutely essential to American life in the 1800s. Carriages came in an amazing assortment of sizes, shapes, and finishes, from the buckboard phaeton to the sidebar buggy to the booby hut. Going Places explores the culture, evolution, and eventual demise of horse-drawn transportation from the early nineteenth century, through the industrial revolution, and into the 1900s and the dawn of the automobile age. Along the way, diverse artifacts—including a full-sized pony surrey, harness and tack, and assorted carriage accessories—speak volumes about our insatiable desire for travel, speed, and new technology.
Going Places also covers a broad range of questions: How were carriages sold and who could afford them? How did they function within America’s larger transportation network? What factors led to their eventual demise? The answers are surprising, and frequent parallels to today’s car culture make Going Places a fascinating journey.