By Water & By Land
Permanent Collection
Carriage House
A History of Transportation on the Hudson River
Transportation on the Hudson River, always a key to economic success, is represented in four wonderful ship models made for the museum by Paul T. Clement. These show some of the different types of shipping that carried people, products and raw materials to and from the shops and factories in Troy and Rensselaer County to points north, south and west.
The rare Elisha Waters patented “Paper Boat,” a single racing shell with a laminated paper hull, used for recreational and competitive rowing on the Hudson, takes up much of the length of the gallery.
Land transportation is also on view here. The Hart-Howard Coach is a rare survival of a “Curtain Quarter Coach” from the late 1830s used by the first owners of the historic house. The George and Amanda Cluett Sleigh was made at the Troy Carriage Works in the 1880s and, like the Hart’s Coach, was originally housed here in the Carriage House. An important collar factory work vehicle from the town of Berlin is also on display.