Going Places, November 8, 2009

Going Places
On view November 8, 2009

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.

The Port Arthur Historical Society is proud to announce the opening of a new traveling exhibition at the Museum of the Gulf Coast exploring the culture, evolution, and eventual demise of horse-drawn transportation, from the nineteenth century to the dawn of the automobile age. Going Places will open to the public on November 8, 2009 and will remain on view through January 10, 2010. The exhibition features 41original objects including a full-sized pony surrey, children’s carriages, and assorted harnesses and tack— that speak volumes about our insatiable desire for travel, speed, and new technology. The exhibition also covers a broad range of questions: How were carriages made and repaired? Where were they sold and who could afford them? The answers are surprising, and parallels to today’s car culture make Going Places a fascinating journey.

The Museum will host a FREE opening event celebrating the transition from horse drawn travel to automobiles with the debut of the Museum’s newly acquired 1928 Ford Model A Phaeton Touring Car on Sunday, November 8. Owned and operated in Port Arthur, the early automobile was recently donated by the DiStefano family in memory of Joe DiStefano. The opening event will take place from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. and will feature an outdoor display of classic cars from the local chapter of the American Car Enthusiasts Society (ACES). Visitors will also have a chance to win two free tickets to the 2010 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

In addition to the opening event, the Museum will host a FREE Family Fun Day featuring hands-on activities, holiday crafts and horse drawn carriage rides on Saturday, December 5 and Classic Films set in the age of horse drawn travel on select Saturday afternoons at 2:00 p.m. during the exhibition:
· November 14 – Stagecoach
· November 28 – Black Beauty
· December 12 – Gone With the Wind
· December 26 – Little Women

Going Places was curated by William F. Ayres, director of collections and interpretation at the Long Island Museum of American Art, History, and Carriages. The exhibition has been made possible by NEH on the Road, a special initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities. It is toured by Mid-America Arts Alliance. Founded in 1972, Mid America is a nonprofit regional arts organization based in Kansas City, Missouri. For more information, visit www.maaa.org and www.nehontheroad.org. This hosting of Going Places was made possible in part by grants provided by the Southeast Texas Arts Council and Entergy Texas, Inc.