Wagon Land Adventure - Part 1

Literally around the corner from my late in-law's former home is the largest and most unique collection of horse-drawn vehicles in North America. It wasn't until my last visit to Tremonton, UT in fall 2024 that I had the opportunity to take a tour. I was so blown away that I lost all track of time, and exhausted my phone battery taking pictures!

Wagon Land Adventure is the passion project of Eli Anderson, who began his collection of horse-drawn vehicles more than 50 years ago at a young age. He does much of the restoration work himself. From his website, "Wagon Land Adventure Foundation, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 2008. The mission of Wagon Land Adventure Foundation is to provide an authentic and educational experience of the life and times of the pioneer horse-drawn era. The Foundation promotes preservation of American heritage for future generations, through educational programs and apprenticeships for training people in the art of wagon, carriage and buggy restoration, blacksmith methods, and other disappearing pioneer crafts and skills. Wagon Land Adventure educational information is disseminated through demonstrations, interactive exhibits, meetings, special events, newsletters, and other distribution outlets."

Eli offers personal tours by appointment. If you're ever in northern Utah, I encourage you to plan to spend an hour or two or three with Eli touring his collection! He is delightful and knowledgable, sharing stories and interesting history along the way.

I also recommend picking up a copy of his book. A large volume of his collection was put together in 2014 and is available to purchase through Amazon. It is also available from the Carriage Association of America website. I have a couple copies and it has a wealth of information with an image and description of dozens of vehicles. Since 2014, his collection and restoration work has continued to grow. He thinks he's now up to somewhere around 400 vehicles! I hope you enjoy the next several blog posts as I bomb you with photos from our tour. 

Eli with one of his favorite restorations -
as he tells it he is one of the few people who could fix Congress!

Take a look at the photo within that shows what this carriage looked like
before Eli restored it to its current glory! Hi enlists the help of others in areas that are
not his specialty, but he is himself a true craftsman.

The tour started by watching a short video in these blue chairs. 
You can't even see to the back of the first building from here. 

Jonathan, Andrew, and I. There's no denying I look like a kid in a candy store!

Stay tuned for several more posts featuring Eli's collection at Wagon Land Adventure!

Peabody Museum

Muybridge Zoetrope Film #10 "Leaping Horse" Detail

The family finally made the trip down to New Haven to visit the Peabody over the holidays. But first, we had lunch at Modern Apizza, which is THE best pizza in New Haven (my colleagues and I previously did a taste test, and it was unanimous). Then we spent a few hours at the Peabody. 

Following a transformative four-year renovation, the Yale Peabody Museum reopened on March 26, 2024, with rejuvenated galleries, reimagined exhibits, and refurbished dinosaurs. The exhibits are beautifully done and rival the quality of bigger museums, in my opinion. Admission is free and open to all. If you're ever in New Haven, CT, be sure to stop by!

Although there are three floors of dinosaurs, artifacts, and gems, I'm only going to share equus-related items, and maybe some deer-like skeletons in this brief post. 

Some of the exhibits, like the giant Brontosaurus, are permanent exhibits. Others, like the Mind/Matter: The Neuroscience of Perception, Attention, and Memory, are temporary. In this exhibit, I found this fantastic Muybridge series of a jumping horse. 

It was fun to use the zoetrope to see the filmstrip "in action" as it was intended.

Here are some closer detail shots of the filmstrip...

The rest of this post comes from the mammal displays. I only captured a fraction of it!

Mesohippus bairdii
early relative of the horse
from the South Dakota area

Hypertragulus calcaratus
Deer-like mammal, he was tiny!

Head of Orohippus Agilis

Orohippus Agilis
early relative of the horse
from the Wyoming area

This one was described as a deer-like mammal.

Other herbivore mammals