By Richard Palmer
It was a hot summer day on July 16, 1891 a wave of excitement spread over Clayton when, in a grand flourish reminiscent of former times a stagecoach pulled by six horses halted in front of the Windsor Hotel in Clayton with some 20 people aboard to spend a few days in the Thousand Islands.
Arrival of the Truxton Coaching Club at Clayton, July 16, 1891. (Cortland County Historical Society)
It caused quite a sensation and was a novel sight to see as stagecoach service ceased to Clayton when the railroad was opened here in 1873. This was one of the first long trips of the newly organized Truxton Coaching Club. Truxton is a small village east of Cortland. They made a second trip here in 1893.
Judson C. Nelson, founder of the Truxton Coaching Club (Cortland County Historical Society)
Coaching or "Tally-ho" clubs were the rage in England in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in y England. The first such organization in the United States was the New York Coaching Club, founded in 1875. It emulated the genteel sport practiced England and had specially-built coaches - not old recycled stagecoaches.
It all started in 1890 when Dr. Judson C. Nelson of Truxton, near Cortland, N.Y., while visiting his in-laws in Schoharie, discovered it mouldering away in an old barn. The old stagecoach had operated between Middleburg and Schoharie until 1880 when it was replaced by a railroad.
His immediate thought was to refurbish it so he and his friends could travel on outings around upstate New York. The idea of a coaching club caught on and soon he was joined in this effort by five other local couples. Nelson purchased the coach and had it shipped to Cortland where it was thoroughly overhauled, re-equipped and painted red with black trimmings.
Soon the Truxton Coaching Club went out on the road. Its first first shake-down trip from Truxton to Watkins Glen. It being a success, it was then decided to venture off to Clayton to visit the Thousand Islands the following summer. The logistics of finding suitable accommodations along the way were worked out in advance.
Coaching Club stops to have its picture taken in New Woodstock.
The 18-member group got an early start from Truxton at 6:20 a.m. on July 13, 1891. Dinner was taken at Delphi Falls. The first night was spent at the Grove Hotel in Fayetteville. After breakfast the next morning they reached Central Square for dinner. Then it was on to Parish where they spent the night at a hotel. The party arose at 5 a.m. the next morning and left Parish at 6:30. One man shouted: “Away with cars, that's the way to travel.” They stopped at Adams for the night.
The party reached Depauville Saturday where they spent a “horrid” night. They left Depauville at 4 a.m. and drove through to Clayton were met by an immense crowd. They stayed at the New Windsor Hotel and then took a steamboat search-light excursion among the Thousand Islands. Some chose to remain in Clayton to do some fishing for pickerel while others took a steamboat to visit Kingston.
They started their return home on July 19th. Traveling to Watertown they stayed at the Woodruff House.
Truxton Coaching Club members stayed at the New Windsor Hotel in Clayton.
The Watertown Daily Times reported on July 20, 1891:
“At 7:15 last evening, with a grand flourish of the whip, Driver Perry Chappell drove six high-life coach horses, attached to a large tally-ho, up to the entrance to the Woodruff House, and prepared to dismount his party of ladies and gentlemen.
“They left Clayton yesterday afternoon and were driven over the roads at a lively speed by the man who handles the ribbons of the six roadsters. Perry Chappell is an old stage driver, who drove for 30 years between Watertown and Syracuse.”
They left Watertown at 9 a.m. the next day, spending the night at the hamlet of Copenhagen. Leaving there at the following morning, they passed through Martinsburg, Houseville and Turin, and over a “very bad” road to Boonville. After dining there they continued on a few miles and spent the night at Trenton Falls, one of the major tourist attractions of the day. The next day took them through Rome, eventually reaching Cazenovia after a very long day of travel. The next day they safely returned to Truxton without incident.
Frequently these club outings covered more than 300 miles. But driver Chappell, a native of Sandy Creek, handled the reins with grace and dexterity. Another trip was made to Clayton in July, 1892.
Truxton Coaching Club on one of its outings where only a four-horse team was required.
Long after Dr. Nelson’s death in 1895 the Truxton Coaching Club continued to have outings. Extended trips were made throughout the Finger Lakes region. Later these were limited to day trips not far from home that might include a picnic or a stop off at some local hotel for dinner. The Dryden Fair and Little York Lake Park were also popular destinations.
*Note: Dr. Nelson was 71 when he died on July 11, 1895. He had been surgeon for the 76th Regiment, New York Volunteers, during the Civil War, was active on Democratic politics and served in the Nww York State Assembly.
Sources
Overland From Truxton, DeRuyter Weekly Gleaner, June 21, 1892
Harris, R. Curtis, essay, The Thrill, Fun of Coaching
Heppell, Roger C., Truxton Coaching Club, Bulletin of the Cortland County Historical Society, Vol. 22, No. 1, February, 1968
Truxton Coaching Club Founded in 1892, Cortland Democrat, March 2, 1968
Various small news items in local newspapers discussing trips.
Obituary of Judson C. Nelson, Cortland Standard, July 12, 1895; New York Herald, July 13, 1895; Dryden Herald, July 17, 1895.
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