The New England Region/Carriage Association of America has scheduled its annual learning weekend and meeting for Saturday, February 6 and Sunday, February 7, 2010 at Le Chambord Inn, 2737 Route 52, Hopewell Jct., NY (southeast of Poukeepsie, NY). The club is celebrating its forty-first anniversary in 2010. It is the oldest chapter of the Carriage Association of America.

There will be four speakers and tours of two carriage collections. Our program will start at 9:30 Saturday morning. The first speaker will be Mark Cole, an architectural historian from Chadds Ford, PA. He will speak on Carriage Houses of America. He will be followed by Phil and Bunny Savino who will speak on their collection of 19th century cast iron hitching posts. They authored a book about their collection entitled Horsing Around which will be given to each family attending the Saturday portion of the weekend. The last speaker of the morning is PJ Crowley. PJ serves on the Board of Directors of the Carriage Association and for a number years has purchased Dutch Harness Horses in Holland
on behalf of clients. He will speak on the criteria for selecting carriage and coach horses and their training. After lunch at the Inn, we will tour Dick Lahey’s collection in Wappinger’s Falls, NY (about 20 minutes from Le Chambord). Dick is a retired public school administrator and has been collecting horse drawn vehicles for close to 40 years. He has about 35 carriages and sleighs, assorted pictures and carriage accessories assembled in his barn. He promises to tell us interesting tales about his adventures in collecting. The Mid Hudson Driving Club will host a reception at Dick’s house in the late afternoon. It is important for attendees to note that this collection and the one at the Vanderbilt Estate are unheated – dress warmly!! We will return to our Inn for a cocktail hour followed by dinner. Our after dinner program is a video that Dick produced about the Carriage Association.

After breakfast on Sunday morning, we will drive up to Hyde Park, NY to assemble at the Vanderbilt Estate. Some will view the vehicles in the Carriage House guided by Ken Wheeling while the others visit the Mansion on a tour conducted by the National Park Service. The groups will then switch places. We will lunch at Foster’s Coach House in Rhinebeck, NY, which is decorated in the manner of an English tavern. The annual members’ meeting will take place over dessert.

The Board of Directors will meet over breakfast at Le Chambord on Saturday morning.

Call Carol van Schaik with questions – 802-226-7364.