Milford chronicle., 1925-04-03
Old Stage Coach Days Recalled
By Traveller Of 20 Years Ago
Georgetown In Sussex County, Delaware, Was Day And
Night Distant From Wilmington With Fare OF Six Cents
Mile

Inc OIQGI uuy VI q G~es0N@NN-
bus laden with passengers led to
some discussion as to whether the
railroads were not finding serious
comnetition in some of these buss-
es. This particular car seemed to
have as fine equipment as Pull
man drawing-rOOm coach. 1t was
said that it came from New En-
GLAND and belongs to one of great
chain of stations scattered through
ont the United States which are
specializing in transcOntinental SER
vice for tourists.
The smoothly-running VehcIe'
that negotiated the roads with the
ease of a Pullman car, recalled TO-
some of the oldest of our citizens
the old days before the railroads
had pushed the stage coaches OH
the roads and onto junk piles.
Stages were the earliest vehicles
for public travelling in this country
and stage lines were established IN
this state thirty years before the
outbreak of the Revolutionary war.
From 174O until after the close OF
the Civil War stages linked all the
= Delaware towns and connected tne
state with Baltimore and Philadel-
phia.
Old Staging Days RecalleO
A gentleman nearing his goth |
5 birthday recalls vividly the old |
staging days and their incidental
discomfort, although in those times
travelling by the stage coach seemed
to have reached a degree of comfort
that satisfied the most tasty travel
er. except in the seasons when the
roads were washed into great ra-
vines, or again in the spring when
they became literally impossible by
reason of the mud.
Recalling a trip from Georgetown
to Wilmington before the Civil war,
The Stars informant stressed the
fact that the great vehicles were
hung on leather springs, which r
theoretically served as a shock alb :
sorber in reducing the bumps OF =
the country highways. The de- L
scription of one trip from George c
town perhaps will serve to illus q
trate the experiences encountered II
in travel sixty or more years ago. y
Leaving the Sussex county seat at n
a speed of six or seven miles an a
hour, the driver sitting tight on his "
careening vehicle and frequently 81
swapping his long, kissing lash r
above the back or the ears of his m
team in order to compel them to n,
maintain the schedule of the line, er
so that passengers could rely with in
reasonable certainty on the arrival st
and departure of the vehicle. IN
The stages were covered tightly, st
with tops of leather or other water
proof material and had windows Of cr
isinglass which admitted light by n
day, but were scarcely clear enough ne
to give passengers much of view nv
of the country. cI
NreSh Horses Every Is Miles si
Horses were hurriedly changed til
every twelve or fifteen miles, the tn
relays being harnessed and waiting 81
the arrival of the wearied team that
came up into the towns with dash, PC
but missing was the original pep oc
that we are accustomed to see thru ne
the movies. The horses were fine, gr
big animals, picked however, more ou
with the view to their ability as We
foot performers rather than as pu
beasts of draft, and they were we'll Sn
kept; their sleek coats shining like
the satin stocks of the gentlemen no
OF those days. FL
The new horses would scarcely f.,
wait until they had been tethered to do
the vehicle before they were off with
a gallOp, often prefacing their get 90
away with a leap into the air or an
some other equally thrilling and ret
harmless midair performance that i've
won the admiration of the crowds PL
of townspeOple who gathered twice stf
daily to see the stages come and co
go. There was a stage in each di- to,
rectiOn every day and to await the an
coming of these and to ascertin who ole
the passengers were, constituted wo
the chief diversion of the rural peo- wa
pie Of the days, of which we write. ira
If the roads were in bad condition, err
which was the case more than six cre
of the twelve months of each year, bl1-
the four-in-hands soon stopped
champing on the bit, for the stage Pc
was heavy and when filled with pas "a,
sengers, six, eight or ten as it might baI
be, the steeds had no energy to wa
waste on purposeless pranks. m,
Georgetown Many Hours Away sm
The drive from Georgetown took Gre
from midday until the next day be- nee
'ore noon. TIE be sure the stage Phi
vas kept going by night as well as dot
~ day. In addition to changing the the.
lorses every 10 miles or so the IN
'let5S WdlLGu Wull6 us passengers
tie their suppers and breakfast the fifty
morning at a hotel along cen
he route. Dover was the first food ser7
tation of the way from Georgetown per:
nd passengers usually stopped at moo
myrna or iddIetown-preferabl A
he former, for breakfast. The port
ables in those days were conceded soo1
2 well supplied with excellently stag
Ooked dishes; frequently the meun fore
'ould include wild fowl, game, tur- few
ey, terrapin, crabs, CLANS and scar
ysters in such abundance that one rail-
as required to watch, not his step, 1t
much as his stomach and appe- tlon
te. Such dinners would cost the men
avelers from 35 to so cents-less Win
ian the cost of single entree to- 1t a
ly day
Fare Six Cents a Mile was
The fare for passage was a ftp cd <
7nny-bit-the equivalent of six for
nts, or a fraction more per mile. 1,Io,,1
One might easily conjecture the fo1.
aboard one of the and
heeled land-lubbers were almost n1os+
l. They were crude in the ex- Dofo
eme. Even though travelling . liz,
rough stygian darkness of nights soIlti ,ti
ere were no lights within or with rISi ori,,,
it the stage, and the passengers It itii
ere obliged to sit bolt upright 80
hen the seats were all occupied - olu
ere unable to keep awake and fell stooI 9teei