When Homecoming celebrations kick off during the first weekend of October, those in attendance will have a new choice for seeing parts of the campus from a different point of view. And it’s a mode of transportation that was very much in vogue when WVU Potomac State College was founded 125 years ago.
For the first time, attendees will be able to take horse-drawn carriage ride tours of the campus property, boarding one of two antique and refurbished carriages that will be available on the greenspace area of the Quad, as if it’s Central Park in the center of Manhattan.
While two carriages will be in use for Homecoming events, three were recently donated to the College by Betty Spiggle, widow of the late and beloved local physician, Dr. Wayne Spiggle.
“Those carriages were my husband’s pride and joy,” Betty said. “I was not a horse person, but my husband was. At one time, we probably had eight horses and then we got it down to just three. And two of those three were buggy horses that pulled those carriages.”
While his profession was in the medical field, his passion was in another field – literally. He and Betty owned and operated a beef cattle farm in Short Gap, WV. He was named Farmer of the Year in 1982 by the Mineral County Soil Conservation Committee, Outstanding District Tree Farmer in 1983 by the West Virginia State Forestry Department and was cited in the Potomac Valley Soil Conservation District. Dr. Spiggle hosted Markus Witschi from Hindelbank, Switzerland through the International 4-H Youth Exchange to teach him American farming customs.
“We had those carriages for probably 20 years,” Betty Spiggle said. “After Wayne passed away, they were just out there sitting in my garage. And I saw a newspaper article about an equine program at Potomac State. A few of my kids went there, and that is my local college, so I called up Donna Ballard (Professor of Horticulture, Plant and Soil Sciences and Director of Farms at WVU PSC) and asked her if she would like to come and look at them. And she did, and then I donated them. They really are beautiful carriages.”
Spiggle said her husband would periodically hitch a horse to the more sophisticated carriage and take people for rides around their farm when he wanted to turn a head or two.
“We called that one carriage the ‘Doctor’s Carriage’ because it was the one he used when people would visit that he wanted to impress,” she said. “He had the president of the state medical board out to our property once, and he took him out on a ride. I am glad to hear that the College can use them, and they will be making their debut at Homecoming for people to enjoy.”
Dr. Spiggle was widely known in Mineral County in West Virginia and in Allegany County in Maryland. He was the co-founder of the Braddock Medical Group, where he worked for 37 years.
He was also an attending physician at both Sacred Heart and Memorial Hospitals and the attending physician at Allegany College of Maryland and Sacred Heart Hospital cardiac rehabilitation program in Cumberland, MD. He was also a founding and active member and past president of the Community Trust Foundation. Dr. Spiggle was also chairman of the Board of Visitors for the University of Maryland’s Appalachian Environmental Laboratory at Frostburg, president of the Nemacolin Chapter of Trout Unlimited, and a member of the West Virginia Conservancy, the Maryland Conservation Council, and the Citizen’s Coalition on Surface Mining. His citizen activities included membership with Allegany County Chamber of Commerce, Mineral County Farm Bureau, and the Frostburg State College Foundation Executive Committee. He was elected and served as a Mineral County Commissioner for six years.
“Gifts-in-kind such as these carriages can have a tremendous impact at Potomac State because they provide resources that directly enhance the student experience,” said Dr. Megan Webb, director of development at WVU Potomac State College. “We are incredibly grateful to Mrs. Spiggle and to all of our donors who find meaningful ways to support the College. Their generosity creates opportunities for experiential learning while also allowing us to preserve and share something special with our campus and community.”
When the carriages make their public debut during Homecoming weekend, they will each be pulled by two independently owned horses with vocational connections to PSC. Sparky is owned by farm employee Raequel Barnes. He will most likely pull the “chariot” carriage that can seat up to four people, including the driver. The type of cabin is known as a Chariot Carriage - often referred to in historical contexts as a Coupé or Chariot-style coach. Also referred to as an Irish cart, the chariot design usually required the driver to stand inside a singular “bucket-like” hull. In the 18th and 19th centuries, coachbuilders adapted this aesthetic into a highly luxurious, four-wheeled passenger vehicle like the one donated to PSC. Since the popularity of the classic movie with the same name, the modern reference to this vehicle is “the Ben-Hur Chariot Carriage.”
Meanwhile, Roper – leased to the College via a family member of farm manager Natasha Henry – will lead the “fancier” carriage that only seats two – including the driver. This is the carriage Mrs. Spiggle said was called the “Doctor’s Carriage” around her home. With a retractable canopy top, this carriage is considered a Phaeton. For horse and buggy enthusiasts, a Phaeton is a sporty open carriage that was popular in the late 18th and early 19th century. Drawn by one or two horses, a Phaeton typically features a minimal, very lightly sprung body atop four extravagantly large wheels. It was ideal during its day for light duty, parade exhibitions, and short rides into town where the owner and his wife (typically in those days, men always operated these carriages) would dress up in their finest clothes and tour about town. In its day, the sleek and sophisticated design of the Phaeton was to the horse and buggy what a Tesla or Lexus is for the automobile industry today. This type of carriage was popular as a sport and pleasure vehicle.
Both Roper and Sparky have spent the last month getting re-acclimated to the task, although both have had prior experience. Sparky was a “rescue” Barnes adopted from an Amish family. He had pulled wagons and carriages for the family, and so his training and experience came in useful for this task as well. Now 20, Roper has been trained to pull a cart broke since the age of seven or eight. Each horse may change depending on the weather and ground conditions at the Quad during Homecoming weekend.
In fact, when both animals finished their “training” with the buggies, Henry and Barnes decided it was time for an inaugural practice passenger test and invited PSC President, Dr. Jerry Wallace, his wife, Allyson, and two children for a test ride through the main equine stable on campus.
“Our children Kennedy and Maxwell absolutely loved seeing the horses and riding in the carriages. The vintage carriages are comfortable, and the ladies did a wonderful job sharing information about the horses as we rode around,” Dr. Wallace said. “The rides will be a special addition to Homecoming this year.”
The horse-drawn carriage rides will be available from 2-3 p.m. Friday, Oct. 2, on the PSC Quad, immediately following the President’s Social. The rides will provide Homecoming guests an opportunity to experience the donated carriages firsthand while highlighting the College’s equine program and the hands-on learning opportunities available to students. For questions about giving to WVU Potomac State College, please contact the PSC Office of Development at psc-officeofdevelopment@mail.wvu.edu.
WVU Potomac State College Homecoming Events will be held October 1-4. For a complete schedule of events open to the public – including the availability of carriage rides – click here.