Arabian Horses

Arabian Horses. Travellers Rest Trace. As was the case with many upper-class Southern families in the 19th and early 20th century, the Overton's engaged in the breeding of fine horses. However, Travellers Rest was not devoted solely to breeding one type of horse until 1929. Jacob McGavock Dickinson, Jr. (great-grandson of Judge John Overton) purchased the 440-acre farm at Travellers Rest and established one of the largest Arabian horse farms in the United States. Because Arabians were one of the oldest known breeds, Dickinson carefully researched pedigrees and corresponded with breeders in Poland, Egypt, and the Middle East to locate the purest stock. His efforts led to international recognition as a breeder of Arabian horses for "sport and pleasure." Dickinson relocated the horse farm to California in 1946., This small section of concrete foundation is all that remains of a horse stable that stood in this area. Evidence of red brick beneath the concrete suggests that an earlier outbuilding perhaps associated with the Overton plantation preceded the stable. The completion of the Radnor Yard railroad expansion in 1954 cut greatly into the hillside and the pastures behind the house. This forced the removal of many of the farm's outbuildings and barns., Captions , Left: Margaret Dickinson, wife of Jacob McGavock Diskinson in the lower meadow. Notice the main house in the upper right corner of the frame. Today, the meadow is a parking lot for Radnor Yard. (c.1930s). , Right: In the left foreground is one of several stables that were present on the site in the 1930s and 40s. You are standing on what remains of the structure's floor. Toward the center of the frame is the weaving house, the main house is on the right. The horse in the image is Ronek. (c. 1930s)