Cupholders in cars may be a modern convenience, but folks in the horse-and-buggy era still needed to keep drinks cold. Albert Brien shows off the cooler section in the back of a carriage at his Kingston Carriage and Sleigh Museum.
The Kingston Carriage and Sleigh Museum is located inside an old barn at 19 Marshall Road in Kingston.
Jason Schreiber/Union Leader Correspondent
When he opens the towering red doors and steps into his old, rustic barn in Kingston, Albert Brien is transported back to a time when the sound of clattering carriage wheels and clomping hooves echoed through the streets.
The barn holds two dozen horse-drawn carriages and sleighs that Brien has collected in recent years after he decided that, while he may be in his 80s, he wasn’t too old to start a hobby.
Most of the antique carriages were built between 1890 and 1910 and are now part of Brien’s Kingston Carriage and Sleigh Museum, which he established in 2020 on his property at 19 Marshall Road.
The barn-turned-museum, which is open to the public, is Brien’s attempt to satisfy his hobby while educating others about the history of carriages and carriage making in New Hampshire.
More than 20 horse-drawn vehicles from more than a century ago fill the Kingston Carriage and Sleigh Museum.
Jason Schreiber/Union Leader Correspondent
“Anyone with a good collection and who is knowledgeable is over 80 now. They’re approaching 90 and they’re all dying off and once they’ve died off there’s nothing left because their knowledge goes with them. That’s a little sad,” he said as he admired his carriages and shared the stories behind them.
Brien, 85, has always had a love for carriages. He owned about 140 of them 40 years ago, but many were lost in a barn fire and most of the others were later sold. He kept only a few, but he recently rediscovered his passion for carriages and began building his collection once again.
Some of the carriages were made in New Hampshire while others were built in Massachusetts. Brien owns one carriage that was made by Herbert W. Marshall Co., which was once located across the street from his Kingston home.
Cupholders in cars may be a modern convenience, but folks in the horse-and-buggy era still needed to keep drinks cold. Albert Brien shows off the cooler section in the back of a carriage at his Kingston Carriage and Sleigh Museum.
Jason Schreiber/Union Leader Correspondent
Brien has been slowly replacing the carriages with ones made by Brewster & Co., a custom carriage builder founded by James Brewster in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1810. “They were the Cadillac carriages,” he said.
The location of his museum is fitting: Kingston earned the nickname the “Carriage Town” in the 1800s because the town had numerous carriage makers at the time — some of which were located along Main Street. Because Kingston was a popular stop between Portsmouth and Boston during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, there was a need for carriage repair shops, which resulted in a flourishing local carriage industry.
While there are still some carriage collectors around today, Brien said people rarely hear about them.
“There’s no money in opening and showing them. People don’t care anymore. The older people do, but certainly the 20-year-old kids don’t. Little kids like them,” he said.
While younger generations may show little interest in carriages, Brien is still passionate about his hobby and hopes more people will check out the carriage collection at his museum, which is free to visit.
The museum is mostly open by appointment, but if someone stops by and he happens to be home, Brien said he’s always happy to open up the barn and give a tour.
Occasionally he hires someone with a horse to offer horse-drawn carriage or sleigh rides in the woods around his Kingston property for a $5 donation. Brien plans to hold his next public open house at the museum on Saturday, Nov. 2, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Carriage rides will be available.
Brien has given some tours to local organizations and is willing to open up for students to learn as well, but so far he hasn’t had any luck getting schools on board. “I sent letters to all the school superintendents in a 15-mile radius here and not one person replied,” he said.
“People should understand what was happening 120 years ago.”
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Anyone interested in learning more about the museum or scheduling a visit can contact Brien at 603-642-5434.
