Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles to Host Third Annual Cars & Cones Event

from Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles

Photo courtesy of Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

The Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles is pleased to announce it will host the third annual Cars & Cones event on Thursday, Aug. 8. This low-key cruise-in will be held in the Museum parking lot adjacent to the Museum entrance from 4-6:30 p.m. No registration is required, and the event is free for both vehicles cruising in as well as spectators. The Museum will be open with extended hours. To multiply the fun, Mister Softee of Reading will be in attendance with ice cream and other refreshing novelties for purchase. J-Walkers Family of Volunteers will sell hotdogs. Parking for spectators is available in the Museum’s upper parking lot and along the street.

Over the past several years, the Boyertown Museum has worked hard to improve its facilities – inside and out – to both enhance the visitor experience and better protect the cherished pieces of transportation history on display. The Carriage Barn, open to the public since December 2023, features unique and exciting examples of horse-drawn vehicles, many of which have never been on display at the Museum. These examples include a durable Skeleton Break used to break, train, and exercise carriage horses, a Hansom Cab – a closed carriage referred to as the most popular cab in London, and an extravagant Bavarian State Coach used to convey royalty or high officials during official business. Also on display in the gallery is the Museum’s Two Horse Hearse, which has been moved from the Museum’s main floor to a place of prominence in the Carriage Barn.

New to the Museum’s collection: an early 20th-century “Tip Top” tourist cabin. Acquired by the Museum in August 2023, this example of early roadside architecture has undergone extensive restoration and is now on display in the Museum’s main gallery. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, tourist camps and courts were common overnight accommodations for newly budding motorists. Earlier hotels catered to the needs of railroad travelers and were often located in big cities, so these camps began popping up along major roads to accommodate the needs of those traveling on roadways. In their early days, the structures that populated the camps were typically singles, hosting one person or couple at a time, and looked and functioned like one-room homes. As these lodgings became more popular, business owners expanded, offering more units for rent and modern amenities, like phones, gas, cafes, swimming pools, and sometimes air conditioning. These more modern accommodations began to be known as tourist courts. The term “motel,” a combination of “motor” and “hotel,” implying more available space, was popularized in the 1940s. “Motel” and “tourist court” were both used through the mid-century before the latter fell out of popularity with the general public.

The Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles is a 501c3 nonprofit organization founded in 1965 by Paul and Erminie Hafer. The Museum, located at 85 S. Walnut St., Boyertown, preserves and displays examples of Pennsylvania’s road transportation history in the former factory buildings of the Boyertown Auto Body Works. Over 90 locally manufactured cars, trucks, carriages, bicycles, and motorcycles are on display, as well as three examples of roadside architecture – a 1921 cottage-style Sunoco gas station, a 1938 Jerry O’Mahony diner, and an early 20th-century “Tip Top” tourist cabin. The Museum is open seven days a week, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults, $9 for seniors and AAA members, and ages 12 and under are free. For more information, call 610-367-2090 or visit www.boyertownmuseum.org.

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Source: bctv