Conestoga wagon

Accession number: 1993.48

The Conestoga wagon was developed in the 1700s by Germans near Conestoga, Pennslyvania, and they were introduced to Virginia by German immigrants coming down the Great Wagon Road into the Shenandoah Valley. Most Conestoga wagons were used for hauling freight and cigars are called stogies because the tobacco for them was hauled in Conestoga wagons. When the wagons were used by families moving west, the wagon carried household goods while the people rode or walked alongside. At night the wagon provided some shelter for people sleeping beneath it.

Image rights owned by the Virginia Historical Society. Rights and reproductions