Carriage House

Carriage House. . This carriage house has witnessed the dramatic shift in transportation from horse-drawn buggy to automobile. When built in 1900, it was only the upper portion and would have held two carriages. In general, most carriage houses are indistinguishable from other barns. Identifying characteristics include more intricate woodwork, the addition of a loft, and its placement. Carriage houses were often located directly next to a road. , By the 1920s, this building housed the Wyatt family's Buick. They used the car to visit the property on weekends, since their primary residence was in Raleigh. The family relied on a superintendent, or farm manager, and tenant farmers to deal with the daily operations of the property. , Eventually in 1940, the Wyatts sold the farm to the Poole family, who ultimately converted the carriage house into a two-car garage, the structure you see before you today. , [Captions] , . Top: The photo to the left depicts the old road onto Oak View property. Seen at the far right in this early photo, the Carriage House looks much like a shed. In 1940, the Poole family converted it into a garage which made it look like what you see today. , . Middle: In the photo to the right, the carriage house appears in the background of a Job P. Wyatt and Son Company picnic. In addition to owning and managing the Oak View Farm, Job P. Wyatt owned a general merchandise business on East Martin Street in Raleigh. Originally selling groceries, hardware, seeds and general merchandise, the store transitioned to selling wholesale hardware, farm machinery, and seeds. By 1955, the seed department saw enough steady growth that they decided to create a spinoff company. They called the company the Wyatt-Quarles Seed Company, named after their first salesman William L. Wyatt and the department manager W.G. Quarles. This company still exists today. , . Bottom: To the left is the old 1940 family store front in downtown Raleigh. Pictured is a paper maché horse, used to advertise farming equipment. Notice the coloring, just like a work horse. This horse still exists today, but sports a black and white paint job, as seen in the picture to the far left. According to family oral histories, the horse was once used to promote a local horse race. Race horses were of a different breed, however, so they painted it, and never painted it back to its original color before returning it to the family. You can still find the horse here at Oak View today.