Skyline Farm is hosting its Annual Sleigh Day in conjunction with the debut of its new museum exhibit. Dress warmly and come to Skyline Farm where horse-drawn sleighs are displayed inside the museum and driven outside in the arena. Admission is free.

Sleigh Day Details

12 pm: Ben Lapointe of Greene and his sweet pair of miniature horses will give Mini Sleigh Rides for children up to age 12. A donation of $5 per child is requested. 

12 pm: John Sczymecki of Hideaway Farm, Topsham, and his team of draft horses will provide sleigh rides around the field for an $8 donation per person or $25 per family. Children ages 5 and under are free on this big sleigh ride.

12:30 pm: Observe various aspects of the art of driving horses put to sleighs, bringing to life 19th century skills in the outdoor arena as described by Sheila Alexander.

2 pm: Bring your snowshoes for a guided walk on Skyline’s trails led by Jennifer Robbins.

Hot food and drinks will be for sale indoors, starting at noon and continuing until we sell out! 

Duck inside the Carriage Museum at the Visitor Center for a look at our new exhibit: ‘200 Years of Runners & Wheels: Celebrating Maine’s Bicentennial’.

For more information, please contact Pamela Ames, info@skylinefarm.org.

Drivers Needed for Sleigh Demo

Invitation to Sleigh Drivers:

Please bring your horse and sleigh to participate in a narrated sleighing demonstration for the public at Sleigh Day, beginning at 12:30 p.m. There’s no entry fee, and you will be provided a complimentary lunch. Please feel free to dress in the style of ‘Currier & Ives’ from this bygone era.

Contact Pamela Ames at (207) 829-5708 or info@skylinefarm.org in advance to let her know that you’ll be participating.

Beginning Sunday, February 9th - 1-4 and each Sunday thereafter

Skyline's Winter exhibit will highlight vehicles used circa 1820 in Maine. Early carriage & sleigh makers liked to use the words Comfort & Pleasure in their vehicle names. These words would put tranquil allusions of grandeur in your head. Reality was original roads were nothing but rough, dusty widened riding or walking paths!

Today the statement “scarce as hens teeth” fits this era of horse-drawn vehicles. It is rare that a museum would have one vehicle 200 years old or older. Skyline has many; three four wheeled Pleasure and Comfort Waggons (two recently acquired), a two wheeled doctors Riding Chair used in Cornish Maine and a Boston Chaise, as well as many unusual sleighs. During this time period a large percentage of each vehicles “parts” were wood, maybe a little leather and minimal custom made steel bolts. As time went on more and more steel parts/leather straps were added for strength and durability.  Two vehicles in particular represent what would have been used in 1820.

First, our blue Comfort Waggon was built for Henry Knox (Chief Artillery Officer to General George Washington) who moved to Thomaston, District of Maine when he left the military. Knox weighed in at about 300 lbs and needed a strong/comfortable vehicle. The body of that vehicle hangs on wood thorough-braces, with an unusual curved wooden spring system, three reaches and a cantilevered seat. Knox's impressive Maine mansion was called Montpelier. It was torn down in 1871 (65 years after Knox's death) to make room for Thomaston's new Railroad line. Today an exact replica sits a few hundred feet from the original site. Tours start up again on Memorial Day, visit info@knoxmuseum.org for more details.

Second, our lime green lime green all-purpose Pleasure Waggons was discovered in a mid-Maine coastal community. It would just as easily transport a farmer's goods to market as a family to church on Sunday. The vehicle has a cantilevered seat, straight wooden springs and wheels pinned on to wooden axles (as apposed to common steel nuts used decades later).

We will display several early sleighs including the Rudyard Kipling rattan Basket Sleigh and early Albany & Portland styles along with some more "modern", but unusual, sleighs that carried the mail, school children, the dead, doctors, and the wealthy.