The Rigors of Colonial-Era Travel

Much-romanticized view of traveling through Cumberland Gap

Planes, trains, and automobiles … none of those had been invented yet during America’s colonial era. So how did people get around?

The most obvious method is on horseback, or by carriage or wagon. But not every manner of conveyance was suitable for every kind of journey.

Freight, for instance, was most likely carried by horse-drawn wagon or ox-drawn cart, which I discussed in another post. The oxen were most often driven by use of a long, slender rod and verbal commands, with the drover walking alongside, but horses were driven from the seat of the wagon. On a long journey with larger numbers of people, however, the able-bodied would walk to save exertion on the horses, leaving only the infirm or small children to ride.

Both ox-carts and wagons required a proper road for passage, thus the term wagon road to distinguish from a bridle path, where walking or mounted on horseback was required. Carriages or coaches needed even better roads.

So, in cities and towns, and in well-populated areas with good roads, people could be free to use coaches or carts of varying sizes without too much worry. But what about when folk desired to travel to, say, the wilderness? How did they manage to get there?

This was a question I had to explore while planning my upcoming novel The Cumberland Bride, which traces the journey of one fictional party of settlers from eastern Tennessee up into the wilds of Kentucky. First I had to figure out exactly when the Wilderness Road was opened for wagon travel. At the time my story is set, 1794, the route had been improved to a wagon road from southwestern Virginia, across east Tennessee and up to Cumberland Gap, but northward the way was still too rugged for wagon travel.

People had to pack things, then, onto horses and mules, and either ride horseback and walk. They’d often put small children or mothers with babies aboard the pack horses, but for the most part people made the journey on foot. They’d face rocky terrain, fallen trees, steep hills, muddy ground, creeks and rivers of varying widths and depths, wetlands, mud flats, and sand pits, as well as dangers from wild animals and hostile natives. They risked frostbite, sunstroke, heat exhaustion, and other injury and illness, including a nasty condition called “foot scald” if they walked too long in wet shoes.

Travel on good roads by coach was still no easy affair. Long hours of bouncing and jostling often made many prefer to be directly on horseback, and I think I’d have agreed with them, even with my aging body!

We moderns like to think, however, that we could be tough, but I’m continually amazed at the tenacity and fortitude of folk who traveled long distances in those days before the comparatively “easy” travel methods of the present. It's incredible the lengths our ancestors went to, to try to make a better life for themselves and their children.

Off the Beaten Path - Halifax, NC, by Carrie Fancett Pagels

During a recent trip to North Carolina, we saw signage along the interstate, for Historic Halifax. We determined to stop and pay a visit to this site.  If you are a University of North Carolina alumnus, then you may know that William R. Davie, the founder of the University had a beautiful home here in this busy colonial and early American town. 

As the pointed out in on the sign, left, William R. Davie was a Revolutionary War hero and more! He was also the tenth governor of North Carolina.



Keep in mind, as you look at recent photographs of colonial and early American buildings, that they may well have been altered. For instance, a plaque in front of the Davies' home (which is much more impressive in person than in my photograph) states that the external chimneys (seen in my second picture, in the background) were originally interior chimneys. We had once heard that only the wealthy could afford chimneys within their homes as it meant they could afford to rebuild if they had a fire. Don't know if that is the reason. Maybe our readers will share?

Owens House, Halifax, NC Circa 1760

The 1760 era Owens House was the home of a prosperous merchant. There is a river that runs nearby that surely has its own tale to tell of the many early colonists who traveled along it to towns in North Carolina! 

Visiting this town brought to mind President Jimmy Carter's American Revolutionary War book, one of my favorites.

Don't forget to stop at the Visitors' Center, if you decide like we did, to go off the beaten path!  In their literature, they describe Halifax as, "An important political, social, and commercial center of Revolutionary and post-Revolutionary northeastern North Carolina." With its strategic location, I imagine this was a hopping place.

The Eagle Tavern may have been a place of much celebration, especially when the Marquise de Lafayette came to town! I am still wondering about the design. I have a theory, which may not be correct, but I wonder if one door was for the women to come into. If like other taverns of its time, food was the primary substance served, then perhaps. I conjecture because in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, there is an old tavern that likewise had two separate entrances--male and female. Not sure for the Eagle Tavern.

If you were looking for ale, you'd head to that brown barn like structure you see in the background of the picture, above.

I think this might have been a very "cozy" place! I can imagine the towns' men gathering here, elbow to elbow, fomenting the notion of liberty.  This Tap Room in Halifax dates from 1760. The residents in the area were reported to be staunch Patriots (or Rebels, if you were British occupier!)  The entire town is reported to have served as a supply depot for the Colonials. And they were punished for it by the English, when they took over.  

And if you were in town during that time, you daren't think of stealing a horse, for the punishments you'd face. According to the sign, above, one man had his ears nailed to the pillory, both ears cut off, was branded with H on right cheek and S on left.  Then he took 29 lashes "well laid on".  Yikes!  (But if he'd been in Virginia, he may have been hung - especially if this had been a second offense.)

Question: When you travel, do you try to visit historic sites? Do you go off the beaten path? Do you regret it or savor the journey? 

Giveaway: A copy of Christmas Traditions eight-in-one ebook, just released!

Bio: Carrie Fancett Pagels is the author of The Fruitcake Challenge, a Selah Finalist, which is  now part of the newly released Christmas Traditions Eight in One Collection. 

Horse in the Bog by Lynn Squire

Welcome Friends and ye new visitors. I'm Nathanial Griffith. Please excuse the mud on my breeches and coat. We've just returned from a long ride under less than favorable conditions.

Aye, I see you looking at my poor old gelding. His hindquarters still quiver. He'll need a good rest, a warm mash, and warm blankets. While my nephew William attends to him, let me tell you the story.

A delegation from our church to lend moral support to Thomas Goold's church in Boston departed a week ago. We knew the trek to be dangerous for we feared the unrest among the Wampanoag Confederacy. However, 'twas not the Indians we need to have feared but the weather.

We set out, five of us with ten horses, three pack horses and seven mounts. As is our custom, we altered walking and riding so as to give the horses rest, yet cover ground quickly. We would make the seventy-five mile trip in two days, the most time lost being the crossing of Sakonnet River at Blue Bill Cove. Much happened along the way, including a foul storm that besought us from Porstmouth to Lynn, and another on the return from Quincy to Freetown.

'Twas that storm that flooded the narrow trail at many places, and while on our ride home the sun shone at times, the paths turned into soup. Three of the other men rode ahead of me, navigating through a particularly deep and wide quagmire. I saw that they made it through and thought to follow after.

My gelding lowered his nostrils and tilted his head to look at it. As you well know, a horse can only see close up with one eye at a time. He jigged a bit, but he's a goodly type, and with some urging leapt into the bog. I lurched forward and felt the panic in his stride as his neck came up to rear his front legs from the mud.

Fearing his struggle would only worsen the situation, I leapt from his back onto the edge of the mire. By this time I could see the coupling of his back straining and sinking as he fought to get his feet under him. At first I hauled on the bridle thinking to pull him from the mud then realized he needed his head free to act as a pendulum.

I was at a loss how to help him until Rev. Myles (a visiting minister from Wales who had joined our delegation) rode up. He had the good fortune to have a sturdy rope. Dismounting quickly, he tossed me an end while he took the other around the back and to the side of my gelding. Together we worked the rope under the buttocks of my gelding and then heaved the horse out of the bog.

The poor beast lay on his side, his lungs gasping for air and every muscle in his body quivering. The good reverend and I stripped off our cloaks and threw them over the horse's body. Knowing the cold would cause great harm, we could not let the gelding rest long. We'd need to get him to a warm, dry place. With much urging, and using the reverend's horse to help pull mine along, we managed to find a widening in the trail where we could build a fire.

As you can see, the gelding, though weak, has made it home. He'll recover in about a week's time with good care. 'Twas an unfortunate happening, and I would not wish it on any man or animal. If you don't mind, I shall bid you all adieu and help William fix the warm mash and blankets.

---

The storm in Northern California (where I live) at the first of this month, drew up many memories. Pulling horses out of mires and canals were some of them.When my husband and I sat before the fire in the comfort of our living room and watched the rain come down (some say at the rate of an inch an hour), I had the urge to put on my Stetson, my slicker, my boots, and my chaps, and head out to do something. What I don't know. In the past it would have been something to help in the comfort and care of our animals.

Between fifteen and twenty years ago, I lived and worked on a ranch in an area that flooded several months of the year. There were times when horses found themselves in the unfortunate position of sliding down a steep embankment into waters below or foolishly being ridden through a boggy spot on a trail, which the rider did not perceive to be deep. In our modern times, we could use a tractor with a front end loader and a sling to lift the horse to safety, but there were times when we had nothing but a lariat and muscles to drag a horse from a bog.

One such time happened when we were several miles from any camp or road, and the trail was either up the mountain or down the mountain. The poor horse was an older gelding, and we feared the incident would do him in, but God is merciful. We managed to get him to a corral at the top of the trail where a truck and trailer could take him back home. Lots of tender-loving care brought him back to full health.

The story Nathaniel told came to mind when reading Mr. Potter's Journal from Virginia to New England. His July 20, 1690 entry says:

I went from Onions to Eliza Town, there having been very much rain, in sight of Collonel Townlies my horse fell with me, and by Gods mercy I escaped drowning having been twice under water wet all my linnen and papers. (Travels in the American Colonies, by Newton D. Mereness p.5)

 I imagine the gentleman was quite uncomfortable, but I must admit I wondered what happened to the horse. :)

Tools of the Trade - The Road Trip

This past week my family took a road trip to Texas. And while I've flown to Texas before (and will again for the ACFW conference in September--woot!), I've never before driven through many of the states. From Maryland, the path to Dallas takes us first through the entire diagonal of West Virginia, then through Kentucky, then Tennessee, Arkansas, and finally Texas.

As we drove, I couldn't help but think of the beloved books I've read that take place in these areas. Laura Frantz's amazing colonials, for example, that are set in Kentucky. Many of the books I grew up on that were set in early Texas. I noticed the names that I knew from my own research, like Pulaski, who was apparently well revered by states other than Georgia. ;-)

And as I saw this 1200-mile cross-section of our country, I was hit again and again with how big it is. How diverse. How mysterious those territories must have been for the early settlers. We started our trip in the beautiful rolling mountains of the Appalachians, spending hours and hours driving up and down, around turns, dodging wildlife. When those mountains tapered into hills, we entered the beautiful horse country of Kentucky--where there is, of all things, a castle. Talk about a fun thing for the kids to see! Though the castle was built only 30-40 years ago, renovators today are apparently shocked by the detail given to medieval authenticity. Pretty cool, eh?

The Bottomless Pit in Mammoth Cave,
woodcut, 1887
 (Nuno Carvalho de Sousa Collection, Lisbon)

From the Lexington area we continued into Cave Country, with beautiful rock ledges and hidden wonders that I obviously couldn't see from the road, but which my imagination knew waited in those caves. I naturally had to look it up when we got home, and I discovered that Mammoth Cave, for instance, was discovered in 1797, our favorite era here at the CQ. Oh, how I would love to tour that cave and imagine myself as one of the earliest Americans, one of the first set of settler eyes to see it!

The land began to flatten out as we drove through Tennessee, and was particularly lovely around the Mississippi. No wonder, then, that civilization sprang up there! It was quite an experience to drive over that massive river and into Arkansas, where the straight, flat countryside was largely fields with trees along the border. 

This mountain-girl started yawning at all the flat, straight lines in Arkansas and Texas (sorry, natives!), but there was definitely something about the sheer vastness that made me able to see the allure. I could just imagine that the first travelers from the east, after navigating those treacherous mountains, finally reaching this and thinking, "Oh my. Just look at all that land!"

It's no wonder that this New World drew so many people. No wonder that they saw how it went on and on and got that itch in the feet that begged them to go explore. And one only has to follow in their footsteps to imagine all the stories that lived, breathed, worked, and yearned through every mile. Hello, inspiration!

~*~

Roseanna M. White grew up in the mountains of West Virginia, the beauty of which inspired her to begin writing as soon as she learned to pair subjects with verbs. She spent her middle and high school days penning novels in class, and her love of books took her to a school renowned for them. After graduating from St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland, she and her husband moved back to the Maryland side of the same mountains they equate with home.

Roseanna is the author of two biblical novels, A Stray Drop of Blood and Jewel of Persia, both from WhiteFire Publishing (www.WhiteFire-Publishing.com), Love Finds You in Annapolis, Maryland from Summerside Press, and the upcoming Culper Ring Series from Harvest House, beginning in March 2013 with Ring of Secrets.

She is the senior reviewer at the Christian Review of Books, which she and her husband founded, the senior editor at WhiteFire Publishing, and a member of ACFW, Christian Authors Network, HisWriters, and Colonial American Christian Writers. She is a regular blogger at Go Teen Writers, Colonial Quills, and her personal blog.

The Crew of a Merchantman in Colonial Times!

While information on the crew of a military vessel such as a Royal Navy Frigate is easy to find, how about the crew manning a regular merchant ship? Ofttimes this information gets lost and muddled among so many different types of ships sailing under the flag of so many different countries.  But while there were differences, I hope to give a general account of the crew of a normal Merchantman.

The Ship Master - Or simply Master or Captain as he was addressed while at sea. His responsibilities included: Outfitting, supplying and manning the vessel before a voyage as well as compliance with all the paperwork, ordinances and regulations demanded by the port authority  Once at sail, his job was to get the vessel safely out of the harbor, but rarely, aside from Sunday services, which he officiated, did he have much contact with the crew. He navigated the ship, made all decisions and was in complete power over the voyage, including dolling out punishments.

First mate - Received orders from the captain and transmitted them to the crew. He was in charge of the setting and lowering of sails, all aspect of the rigging, and ship repairs. He was often hired directly by the owner of the vessel and could not be removed by the captain. He was responsible for keeping an accurate log book and commanded the larboard watch.

The Second mate - commander of the starboard watch and in the absence of the first mate or captain, he commanded the entire vessel. His duties included the maintenance and care of all the spare rigging, blocks, and sails as well as the tools used to work on the rigging. Unlike the captain or the first mate, the second mate actually got his hands dirty and worked alongside the crew.

The Third Mate - only found on large vessels and chosen by the captain from among the most senior able seaman. In some cases, they were designated as bosuns, which were petty officers who were in charge of the crew.

Idlers: - specialized workmen who did not do the work of seaman or stand watch. Idlers commonly included the carpenter, the sailmaker, and the cook. Larger vessels might have a cooper, steward, armorer and other tradesmen.  On smaller vessels, an idler could sign on as both an able bodied seaman and a carpenter, etc..   Cooks were never seamen and were usually older sailors with missing limbs unable to do normal seamen tasks. 

Able seamen - knowledge of steering, reefing, furling and also able to cut and fit new rigging. These were also the topmen who were expected to go to the end of the yards or above the tops. No man could "pass as an able seaman in a square-rigged vessel who could not make a long and short splice in a large rope, fit a block strap, pass seizings to lower rigging, and make the ordinary knots, in a fair, workmanlike manner.'

Ordinary seamen - not quite at the level of an able seaman, the ordinary seaman was expected to 'hand, reef, and steer under normal weather conditions'. They did not have to be a competent helmsman but should be acquainted with all the running and standing rigging of the ship

Green hands - young boys who were learning to be sailors and who were given all the unpleasant simple tasks on board such as sweep the decks, hold a log-reel, coil a rope, slush or scrub a mast, touch up a bit of tar, or help in the galley. But they also learned important skills. They stood watch and went aloft to adjust sails.

Within the Able and Ordinary Seamen existed these titles
Sheet anchor men - worked on the forecastle handling the anchors, jibs and foreyards.
After-gang - working the aft deck these men dealt primarily with the mainsail and spanker and worked on the lines and haliyards
Waisters - worked in the ship's waist.. the center deck below the top deck
Holders - Worked in the hold

Clear as the bilge in the hold?  It thought so!

40 Carriage Terms Defined

1727 Berlin Coupe - Luray Caverns Museum

By Susan F. Craft

In Pride and Prejudice, what was Lady Catherine offering Lizzie when she said, “And if you will stay another month complete, it will be in my power to take one of you as far as London, for I am going there early in June for a week; and as Dawson does not object to the barouche-box, there will be very good room for one of you. . .” ?


Dawson is a servant, but if there were enough room inside the carriage, she would ride inside. What Lady Catherine is doing is offering Dawson's inside place to Lizzie.


In Mansfield Park there is a complicated discussion of how everyone is going to be transported to a party --in the Miss Bertrans’ brother’s barouche or Edmund’s mother’s chaise. Julia cries, “…go boxed up three in a post chaise in this weather, when we may have seats in a barouche. No, my dear Edmund, that will not quite do.”So how do we picture a barouche or a chaise or post chaise in our minds?

I have compiled a short list of terms and some pictures that might help and, in a future post, I'll talk more about the different kinds of carriages

Dictionary of Carriage Terms
barouche: four-wheeled, shallow vehicle with two double seats inside, arranged so that the sitters on the front seat faced those on the back seat. It had a soft collapsible half-hood folding like a bellows over the back seat and a high outside box seat in front for the driver. The entire carriage was suspended on C springs. It was drawn by a pair of high-quality horses and was used principally for leisure driving in the summerbraces or thoroughbraces: in some carriages, leather straps that serve as springs for the body

box or perch: small, elevated box on which a carriage driver sits on a box or perch. (When at the front it is known as a dickey box, a term also used for a seat at the back for servants.)

break or brake: bodiless carriage frame used to break in horses

carriage boot: boot that was fur-trimmed for winter wear, usually of fabric with a fur or felt lining. A knee boot protected the knees from rain or splatter.

carriage dog or coach dog: dog bred for running beside a carriage


carriage folk or carriage trade: upper-class people of wealth and social position, those wealthy enough to keep carriages

carriage horse: horse especially bred for carriage use by appearance and stylish action; one for road horse: horse for use on a road. One such breed is the Cleveland Bay, uniformly bay in color, of good conformation and strong constitution.

coach house: outbuilding for a carriage, which was often combined with accommodation for a groom or other servants.

carriage porch or porte cochere: roofed structure that extends from the entrance of a building over an adjacent driveway and that shelters callers as they get in or out of their vehicle

carriage starter: directed the flow of vehicles taking on passengers at the curbside

cavalcade: procession of carriages
coachman: man whose business was to drive a carriage

dashboard: screen of wood or leather on the forepart of an open carriage intercepts water, mud or snow thrown up by the heels of the horses.

equipage: elegant horse-drawn carriage with its retinue of servants

foot iron or footplate: may serve as a carriage step

footman or piquer: servant in livery in attendance upon a rider or was required to run before his master's carriage to clear the way


glass coach: windows in sides of coach and windows in doors

groom: male servant employed to care for horses; at times accompanying an owner’s carriage

hackneyman: hired out horses and carriages

head or hood: top cover for the body of a carriage; is often flexible and designed to be folded back when desired. Such a folding top is called a bellows top or calash

Holdback: consists of an iron catch on the shaft with a looped strap; enabled a horse to back or hold back the vehicle

hoopstick: forms a light framing member a folding hood

imperial: top, roof or second-story compartment of a closed carriage, especially a diligence, A quarter lights: side windows of a closed carriage

jump seat: a moveable seat

lap robe: blanket or covering that carriage passengers often used for their lap, legs, and feet (buffalo robe, made from the hide of an American bison dressed with the hair on, was sometimes used as a carriage robe; it was commonly trimmed to rectangular shape and lined on the skin side with fabric)

lazyback: attached backrest

livery: distinctive dress or uniform worn by an official, retainer, or servant (and given to him or her by the employer) [term from c1290 in Old French] – a footman’s livery of two suits would cost about £20, as much as his year’s wages

limbers: shafts of a carriage. (Lancewood, a tough elastic wood of various trees, was often used especially for carriage shafts.)

livery stable: kept horses and usually carriages for hire

mews: range of stables, usually with carriage houses (remises) and living quarters built around a yard, court or street

moons: lights for dress carriages: the simplest were wax candles in tin tubes in a circular casing; for traveling coaches, lamps with oil in square casings were used (In the country, social engagements were dependent upon the moon, traveling at night unsafe: for example in Sense and Sensibilities, Sir John Middleton has asked other neighbors to join their party, but “it was moonlight and everybody was full of engagements.”


ostler: groom or stable boy employed at an Inn to take care of guest’s horses

outrider: attendant on horseback who often rode ahead of or next to a carriage

postilion or post boy: person who rides the leading nearside horse of a team or pair drawing a coach or carriage, when there is no coachman


public passenger vehicle: would not usually be called a carriage – terms for such include stagecoach, charabanc and omnibus

springs: It was not until the 17th century that innovations with steel springs and glazing took place, and only in the 18th century, with better road surfaces, was there a major innovation with the introduction of the steel C-spring

tiger: boy or small man employed as a groom on the back of a curricle or other small carriage. (Name derived from the yellow and black striped waist coat worm by the groom [OED: A smartly-liveried boy acting as groom or footman; formerly often provided with standing-room on a small platform behind the carriage, and a strap to hold on by; less strictly, an outdoor boy-servant)

trap, pony trap or horse trap: light, often sporty, two-wheeled or sometimes four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage, accommodating usually two to four persons in various seating arrangements, such as face-to-face or back-to-back

turnout or setout: carriage together with the horses, harness and attendants

wing: a projecting sidepiece on the dashboard or carriage top

yoke: the end of the tongue of a carriage is suspended from the collars of the harness by a bar called the yoke.

Colonial American Christian Writers Christmas Party

Good Tidings to all our Colonial friends!

We will have lots of giveaways in

celebration of Christ's birth!

 Please help yourself to some Wassail 

from the delicious recipe Roseanna White shared with us.

And if you care for some Fruit Cake we have another

delightful receipt from Martha Washington.

And have some Christmas Plum Pudding
(watch for the recipe this coming Sunday.)

The Christmas Coach, 1795,  J. L. G. Ferris

Our colonial writers will share about how
they are getting to their Christmas celebrations.  

Some will be on foot and others in fancy carriages. 

Christmas Morning in Old New York (excerpt), Howard Pyle

 

Home for Christmas, 1784, J. L. G. Ferris

Feel free to come in character and tell us all about how you are going to be traveling this Christmastide!  





 Our conversation has taken a delightful turn and many of us are gushing over the lovely Christmas gowns!

 

A little Colonial Christmas gift for you....Desktop Wallpaper.

CLICK HERE TO OPEN FULL
SIZE AND SAVE AS YOUR
DESKTOP WALLPAPER!

In Ye Olden Days: Road Trip!

I've always enjoyed a road trip, especially in the fall. Something about cooling temperatures, coloring trees, and air washed free of summer haze and humidity makes distances beckon and stirs a thirst for discovery. Satisfying that thirst is a matter of gassing up the car, packing a bag, stopping by MapQuest for directions, calling ahead to book a night at a hotel along the way. Our 18th century ancestors, when hit by autumn wanderlust, didn’t have it so easy. Traveling overland meant walking or riding a horse, possibly driving a wagon or riding in a carriage. Depending on how far one meant to travel, better plan to be on the road for a good chunk of time. Days. Maybe weeks.

But how far can a horse travel in a day? How were rivers crossed in times and places where no bridges had been built? What roads existed in the 18th century, and what sort of shape were they in?


The Great Philadelphia Wagon Road

The Great Wagon Road stretched from Philadelphia to Georgia, and was a major thoroughfare for 18th century travelers, particularly settlers headed south into the Carolina back country, or across the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky. Not all roads beyond town limits were well maintained year round, and travelers traversed them at their own risk. Wagons sunk axle-deep in thick red mud on a rain-mired track were likely as common a sight in the 18th century as cars broken down on our modern highways.

Rivers To Cross

Before there were bridges there were fords, shallow spots in rivers where a rider simply waded or swam his horse across. Or not so simply, if the river was running high. If a traveler was fortunate there would be a ferryman to help him cross the river, for a fee. Some early ferries were as basic as two canoes connected by a level surface for the traveler and his horse to occupy, while the ferryman poled him to the opposite shore. Over time this double canoe ferry was replaced by larger, flat-bottomed craft that used a system of pulleys and ropes, along with a pole man, to make the tedious crossing.

The map to the left shows the site of the Trading Ford, the old Yadkin River ferry crossing on the Trading Path that ran from Hillsborough, NC, to Salisbury, NC, a Piedmont town that grew at the meeting of the Trading Path and the Great Philadelphia Wagon Road. It must have looked much different in the 18th century when one of my characters crossed it, than when I did in the 21st.

Inns and villages often grew up around a ferry crossing. A great resource for descriptions and illustrations of the evolution of a ferry from its 17th century beginnings to its replacement by a covered bridge in the 19th century, is Edwin Tunis's book The Tavern At The Ferry.

So just how far can a horse travel in a day? That depends on the horse, the rider, the terrain, the weather, and how much the horse is carrying. Under normal circumstances and over passable roads, and with proper care (food, water, and rest) a well-conditioned horse could be expected to travel 20 miles a day over an extended period, which is a good way of calculating how long an 18th century road trip was likely to take.

For historical writers, have your characters taken road trips? How did they travel? How long did it take?  What were some of the perils along the way?

For readers, is there a journey taken by a character/s in a historical novel that stands out as a favorite for you? Tell us about it! I'll be along to share one or two of mine.

~ autumn foliage photo by Brian Stansbury, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.