Butler set to launch carriage tours through downtown Gadsden
Horse-drawn carriage rides are popular in cities throughout the U.S., and Gadsden is about to join the list.
Historic Gadsden Carriage Tours is the brainchild of state legislator and businessman Mack Butler, with Emery and Emily Williamson of Feathered Friends Cockatoo and Horse Sanctuary.
They hope to begin running Friday and Saturday evening tours through the downtown area on Sept. 8, and have plans to expand if the reception is strong.
Butler said he and his wife, Connie, enjoy taking carriage tours when they travel, and the seed has been growing in his mind for a while.
“Most recently, we were in Charleston for a legislative conference, and were riding with (fellow legislator) Mark and Kathy Gidley and were talking about ‘we need to do this,’ ” he said. “That’s how it got rolling.
“I kept trying to get other people to do it, I felt like Gadsden needs it because we have such a cool downtown, so I jumped in with both feet,” he said.
Butler reached out to the Williamsons, who have been friends since he met them when their sanctuary provided animals for Rainbow City’s annual live Nativity scene.
“I called (Emily) and said, ‘Please don’t think I’m crazy,’ and ran the idea by them, and they loved it,” he said.
The business will have two carriages: one purchased in Cullman that’s already on hand, and another that’s en route from South Carolina. Each will carry two couples, and Butler projects they’ll be able to handle two rides an hour.
The Williamsons will provide the horses, which will be trailered at Gadsden Hardware, a historic downtown building that Butler is renovating, where the carriages also will be housed.
They’ll also drive the carriages, providing stories of the historic buildings that riders will pass on the route along Broad, Chestnut and Locust streets.
“There’s some really colorful information I’m learning about a lot of the buildings,” Butler said.
For example, the area where architect (and fellow legislator) Craig Lipscomb’s office and several other businesses are in the 400 block of Chestnut Street was once the Phoenix Hotel, which by the early years of the 20th century had become a notorious brothel.
“There was a medical building across the street that took care of treating both the ladies of the evening and their clientele for various diseases,” Butler said.
Butler plans ghost tours in October, as Halloween approaches, and has reached out to Gadsden Public Library Director Craig Scott for “gory and spooky details" to entertain riders.
“(Scott) laughed and said he’s got a lot of that,” he said. “He told me the library is supposed to be one of the most haunted places in town, that a lot of paranormal groups have come in and spent the night in the building.”
Butler is also considering a route through Gadsden’s historic residential area, Haralson and Turrentine avenues. “We can narrate the history of the founders of Gadsden all through there,” he said.
He envisions the tours continuing into December, if the weather permits, and said the carriages will be decorated with lights for Christmas.
Tickets will be $50 per couple. Butler said a ticketing system is still being developed, and those interested in riding can check his Facebook page for ride times and ticket information.
“It would be a perfect complement to an evening dinner, or for a birthday or anniversary,” he said.
Riders will be picked up and dropped off at the trolley station on Fourth Street, thanks to an agreement with Mayor Craig Ford, who Butler said has been “extremely supportive’ of the project.
“This idea is exactly the type of new business activity we need in Gadsden,” Ford said. “We are aiming to become more of a ‘fun town,' and I look forward to seeing entertaining horse tours taking place by horse-drawn carriage in downtown Gadsden. I can already hear the ‘clip clop’ of the hooves on Broad Street.
“With creative business leaders like Rep. Butler, our city will continue to become a destination for entertainment and recreation,” he said. “We can’t thank him enough.”
Butler said, “What’s going on in Gadsden is so positive, and downtown is really in a revival. I see Gadsden becoming like Franklin, Tennessee, where there’s some kind of festival every week. People come from all over, and they’ve had to build hotels downtown and have trendy little shops and eateries.”
He said “the sky’s the limit” for the project, and that more carriages and drivers could be added if there’s a need.
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Historic carriage tours planned in Gadsden
