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| Hugh Shelton loves his unique hobby, educating youth on Texas history |
| By MONETTE TAYLOR | South Central Texas |
April 11, 2002 -- "If it goes on a wagon, I can get it. If I can't get it, I can get it made for you," said Hugh Shelton of Gonzales. Shelton is the owner of over thirty wagons/buggies that were built between the mid-1800s and 1930.
 Hugh Shelton poses with a
restored lady's phaeton carriage. It is low to the ground so a woman can easily step into
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He and his family live on land that has been in the family for several generations, and was originally settled by Green DeWitt in 1825.
DeWitt established his colony at the confluence of the Guadalupe and San Marcos rivers, and standing near the buggy barn, you can look across the Guadalupe River to a place where cattle were gathered for the Chisolm Trail.
"It was the cattle industry that really saved Texas after the Civil War," said Shelton.
Shelton's great-great-grandfather was George W. Davis who settled the land in 1831.
"Davis was educated in medicine and law and wrote about all this stuff. Those diaries and papers, we still have them," said Shelton.
Davis was one of the "Old Eighteen" who defied the Mexican troops, and the cannon that fired the first shot of the Texas Revolution was buried for a time on the land that Shelton now owns.
With all this history surrounding him all of his life, Shelton developed a love of the old buggies. Old buggies are his hobby, and he and several other volunteers drive them to schools and other functions to present programs concerning the history of Texas.
"We got started in rebuilding the wagons by a guy down in Nixon. He had this little buggy, and he just refused to let the antique dealers split it up," said Shelton. "You've lost history once you split it up."
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He said that many of the wagons and buggies are given to him when they fall apart and must be restored.
"When the Model Ts came, people started putting the buggies up. That's where we find some of them ... in barns and stuff where they just hung them up on the wall when they got their first Model T," said Shelton.
According to Shelton, one woman called them to come and get old buggies from a variety of buildings on property around the New Braunfels area. The buildings had not been entered in 30 to 40 years. Trees that had grown in front of some of the doors had to be cut down before they could get inside to the buggies.
He said they called it "buggy heaven," and were pleased to find that most of them were in fair shape, due to the rock walls of the buildings, rather than the dirt, which allows termites and weather to deteriorate the buggies.
Many of the first cars' bodies were taken straight from previous buggy designs.
Shelton has buggies of all kinds: from an American Motors ice wagon built around 1930, and a James Marsh buggy with electric lights, to some built in the mid-1800s.
"It's amazing how they built these things to stand up -- almost indestructable -- as long as you keep them dry," said Shelton.
Many were made from long grain hickory because of the wood's hardness and flexibility. Shelton believes they were treated with linseed oil which has helped to preserve them for so many years.
"If you find one (buggy) that is original, it will have this little brass tag on it with the manufacturer's name and sometimes the date," he said.
The "top of the line" buggy is the 1850 Rockaway Coupe which Shelton owns. It was built with beveled glass, sterling silver door handles, brass hubcaps and silver-plated trim. It was the first, truly American design, and included a seat on the back for a doorman, and cost about $1,000, according to Shelton.
"They lowered the driver's seat down to the same level as the passengers. All your European carriages, they're different levels. It's a status symbol," he added.
"You can date these things (buggies) by just looking at them, by the running gears. The later they got, the more sophisticated they got and a better ride."
He said as the nation progressed, the streets became more narrow, so the wheels had to be adjusted to make sharper turns.
Shelton is one of very few people in the United States who is able to work on the wheels, and has an on-line catalog (www.firstshotphoto.com) for selling parts all over the nation. What he doesn't have, or can't make himself, he has made by the Amish and shipped.
He believes in quality restoration and doesn't believe in filling places "full of putty." Panels are taken apart and rebuilt in his shop. He said most owners can restore the inside and frame, but few can restore the wheels because of a lack of parts, and this is where he can help.
"We can take it from the tree to the wagon," said Shelton.
First Shot Carriage Buggy Haven
Gonzales Inquirer February 6, 2001
We visit with Hugh Shelton, restorer of old Texas buggies and wagons
Saturday, Dec. 2nd, we had occasion to attend a Gonzales Historic Riders "Open House" at the Hugh Sheltons' ranch high on on a wooded bluff over the banks of the Guadalupe River.
Hugh Shelton's Chuck-Wagon
On display were a group of old Texas
wagons and buggies, mostly built or rebuilt in Hugh's shop by Hugh and a few of the
Riders. At various school and civic functions, the Riders like to give folks a taste of
"the way things used to be."
The Open House was no exception; it was like biting into a little piece of the Old West. Literally... Dutch-Oven cowboy biscuits and cinnamon rolls were on the menu, thanks to Riders Dick Collins and Harold Reeves.
Cowboy Dutch-Oven Biscuits
A number of the Riders are interested in Buggy
restoration, but Hugh is the acknowledged master. "A lot of them can do the square
stuff," the Gonzales County native said, "but they do tend to call on me when it
comes to the wheels." Shelton, a lineman for our electric company, lives at his
Guadalupe ranch with his wife Mary Ellen and their two children, Christopher, 9, and
Katie, 8. He has the tools to fashion the sockets, and to bend the wood. He can even
finish the wheels by installing the metal or rubber "tires." Best part of it,
the wagons are not just nice ornaments or history lessons. Any one of them can be hooked
behind a horse (or two) and get you to town. Shelton learned how to outfit the horses and
hook them to the wagons from the Amish, who used to live all around here in great numbers.
Also on hand for the Open House were Riders Glen and Joann Sachtleben,
in full western regalia, including Glen's ankle-black coat, pearl-handled pistol and
sheriff's badge.
When a guest was bemused at the innocent charade, I cautioned, "But mamm, he is our sheriff." He was elected last month. It seems to this observer that the Riders have just the right touch; they help you to appreciate the Past without worshiping it.