Get in your horse and buggy this weekend

STOCKBRIDGE – If you are looking to step back in time, a horse and carriage driving event will be coming to Orleton Farm on Saturday and Sunday (June 15-16).

Presented by members of Colonial Carriage and Driving Society, the 15th Annual Orleton Farm Pleasure Driving Show offers visitors the chance to enjoy the atmosphere of horse and carriage days gone by as they watch drivers in their traditional turnouts compete with their magnificent horses, beautiful carriages and gleaming harnesses for ribbons, for the love of the sport and to be part of the history and tradition of carriage driving in the Berkshire Hills.

The Berkshires was the place to come and be seen driving your horse and carriage during the Gilded Age of the late 19th century.

The large estates and carriage houses provided the perfect setting. Summer residents would be met at the Stockbridge train station and transported by the family horse and carriage to their “cottages.”

Orleton Farm, 200 acres nestled in The Berkshires at 31 Prospect Hill Rd. in Stockbridge, has been a part of that tradition as a horse facility since 1900.

The modern Pleasure Driving Show started 15 years ago at famous sculptor Daniel Chester French’s home, Chesterwood, in Stockbridge.

The show remained there for three years, with the number of exhibitors and spectators increasing each year.

The need for more space prompted the show to move to Eden Hill, one of Stockbridge’s great estates. In 2006, with the desire to add more classes, the show expanded to a two-day format and moved to Orleton Farm.

Drivers come from around the Northeast and even as far away as Virginia to demonstrate their skills in reinsmanship in both ring and obstacle classes.

This unique annual event offers something for everyone as you stroll through the beautiful grounds of Orleton Farm, watching history come alive.

Posted by Kameron Z. Spaulding on June 13, 2013. Filed under Community Events,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry