The Horseshoe Barn and Horseshoe Barn Annex are two exhibit buildings located at Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont. Both buildings exhibit a variety of horse-drawn vehicles, including carriages, trade wagons, stagecoaches, and sleighs. History Electra Havemeyer Webb's desire to provide a suitable setting for the carriage collection of her father-in-law, Dr. William Seward Webb, provided the inspiration for founding Shelburne Museum. She searched Vermont for a building to house these fine carriages and found a unique horseshoe-shaped dairy barn near the town of Georgia. When the owner declined to sell the barn, Electra Webb directed her staff to create a copy of the structure. Over a two-year period they located, moved, and assembled hand-hewn beams from twelve Vermont barns and stone from two gristmills to construct their own horseshoe barn on museum grounds. Completed in July 1949, the massive structure, which is long and wide, incorporated 745 timbers, posts, and braces, of plank and other boarding, and of slate. Carpenters specially cut new clapboards for the exterior siding with an up-and-down saw to recreate the markings found on the original building. In 1957, after the addition of 150 more vehicles to the transportation collection, the museum constructed the Horseshoe Barn Annex to exhibit key examples from the collection using a combination of old and new materials. Horseshoe barns It appears that there are very few horseshoe-shaped barns in the United States. Of the two documented horseshoe barns in Vermont, only one still stands today. The Shelburne Museum houses the only remaining horseshoe barn in Vermont; the Georgia, Vermont barn it was modeled after burned to the ground. There is still a road named Horseshoe Barn Road in St. Albans, Vermont. Other known horseshoe-shaped barns are: Llangollen Farm in Virginia Carriage collection The museum's carriage collection began with the vehicles owned by Dr. William Seward Webb and his wife Lila Vanderbilt Webb. Today it has come to include 225 horse-drawn vehicles. Since many of these vehicles came straight from their respective owners, many still retain their original upholstery and decoration. Horsedrawn vehicles Carriages and coaches began to be widely used in Britain during the 17th century. However, real progress in carriage building was not made until the late 18th century, when Royal Mail coach service began. For the first time, many carriages were designed for comfort and speed and were made alike, using interchangeable parts. Soon carriage driving became the fashionable