Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
The Washakie Museum & Cultural Center is featuring a summer exhibit called Weddings and Wheels that will be on display June 4 through Oct. 3, 2015. The engaging area history exhibit featuring clothing, artifacts, and photographs from Washakie Museum archives, and "wheels" from private collections.
According to the display's interpretive sign, the Landau Carriage is on loan from John Shelp. The Landau is a coach craftsman's term for a type of four-wheeled convertible carriage. It is a lightweight carriage suspended on elliptical strings. The soft folding top is divided into two sections, front and rear, which are latched at the center. The Landau's center section might contain a fixed full-height glazed door, or more often a low half-door. The raised open driver's upholstered bench-seat was usually separate from the passenger compartment.
First built in Germany in the early 18th century, the Landau reached its peak development in England during the 1830s. It was purely a city carriage of the luxury type utilized by British royalty for state occasions. The low shell of the Landau made for maximum visibility of the occupants and their clothing.
The Landau carriages were expensive to build, buy, maintain and restore. In the United States they were used by presidents, government officials, as well as affluent eastern families or outings in urban areas. Some Landau carriages came west and were primarily used as wedding coaches as they were not stout enough for Wyoming roads.
This particular Landau was meticulously restored by master wagon-builder John Shelp of Worland who has loaned this exquisite coach to the museum for the exhibit.