Hidden History: Restored 19th-century sleigh on display at the Mifflinburg Buggy Museum during Christkindl

Dec. 14—MIFFLINBURG — Eva Linke was determined nearly four years ago to leave an estate auction near Kratzerville with a rare 19th-century sleigh.

Linke, the vice president of the Mifflinburg Buggy Museum Association, had spotted the listing of the 1800s Jacob Gutelius sleigh at a public sale organized by Mifflinburg auctioneer Lori Hess Lauver on a family farm in Union County. With the assistance of Isaac Reif, the owner of Vicksburg Buggy Museum — and a passionate back and forth with another bidder — Linke walked away as the new owner.

"There's a good chance this is one of the earlier pieces in the buggy museum," said Linke, who permanently loaned the sleigh to the Mifflinburg Buggy Museum for display. "Since that auction, we've not seen any Mifflinburg pieces come up for sale locally. None."

The bright red Albany Cutter sleigh, newly restored in 2021 by the Vicksburg Buggy Shop, will be on display at the Mifflinburg Buggy Museum, 598 Green St., Mifflinburg, during the 34th annual Mifflinburg Christkindl Market from today until Saturday. The sleigh, made by John Gutelius between 1855 and 1897, is the only one of its kind from that maker that the Buggy Museum has in its collection.

James Goold, of Albany, N.Y., developed "this graceful, swell-sided sleigh design by the 1830s," according to the Buggy Museum's display sign. "The shaft is offset so that the horse could run in line with one runner with less exertion."

All Albany Cutters made in Mifflinburg were two inches wider than normal. The supposition is that the unidentified Mifflinburg woodworker who made these bent-back forms with heat and steam had unusual forms, according to the Buggy Museum.

"Bells were used on sleighs for communication and safety, to alert others that the silent-moving sleigh was coming," according to the Buggy Museum.

History of Jacob Gutelius

Gutelius was the apprentice under George Swenzel, who was the first documented buggy maker in Mifflinburg in 1845, having been the sole coachmaker listed in the tax assessment of 1847. Over the next 84 years, more than 80 coachmakers opened in Mifflinburg.

In 1855, Gutelius, one of 12 members of the Gutelius name to be buggy-makers in Mifflinburg, started his own coachmaking business and became a popular manufacturer of carriages, sleighs and wagons. Carriage Works of Jacob Gutelius was located at the northwest corner of Market and South Third streets, Mifflinburg. A residential home now sits at that location.

In a letter printed in the Jefferson Democrat on Oct. 10, 1883, B.S. Pontius, secretary of the Dayton Fair wrote that Gutelius attended the event with "an excellent exhibit, consisting of a platform spring wagon, open buggy and sleigh. The articles were all first-class, which speaks well for Mr. Gutelius. This is his first visit to our fair and we hope it will not be his last."

His work "was observed above all others for its beauty, symmetry and stability," Pontius wrote.

The Punxsutawney Spirit on June 22, 1887, wrote, "The great popularity of Jacob Gutelius' hacks and buggies is due to the fact that they are all uniformly good and solid, light running, durable, elegantly finished and very cheap. Nothing but the best material obtainable is used in their manufacture, and when you buy a vehicle made by Gutelius you may depend upon it you have a dandy."

Gutelius died of heart failure on June 6, 1887, at the age of 64. He spent 42 years in business, being at the time of his death the oldest vehicle builder in service in Mifflinburg, according to his obituary in the Lewisburg Chronicle on June 12, 1897.

Gutelius was the grandson of Frederick and Anna Gutelius, who lived at the corner of Green and Fifth streets, Mifflinburg. Their former home, built in 1803, is now the site of the Gutelius House Museum.

Sleigh in a barn

The Gutelius sleigh purchased by Linke was on the farm for as long as the family could remember, but no one knows its origin or how it came to be there, said Linke.

"It stayed in their barn all those years," said Linke.

Reif started the bid at the auction, keeping a promise that he would not bid against Linke. The other bidder was a woman that no one knew, and the price went up and up and up, said Linke.

While Linke wouldn't reveal the price she paid for it, she said it was more than they wanted to pay. The high cost though meant the Buggy Museum would have a unique display.

"There was no Jacob Gutelius in the museum," said Linke. "We have all these other Gutelius vehicles."

Sleigh in good condition

Reif, who has restored most of the items in the Buggy Museum, said the sleigh with an oak body and steel runners was in "good structural condition." It still had its two carved eagle heads on the dash, facing outward, and the paint was not faded so that the original colors and striping could be copied.

"The woodwork was solid," said Reif.

Reif spent a year restoring the vehicle, keeping it as close to the original design as possible. The sleigh has its original shafts and bells. All the pinstriping is freehand by Reif. The images — floral and leaf designs, an outdoor scene at a lake and a family of deer — were copied onto a thin piece of plastic and then stenciled back on by Beth O'Connell, of Kratzerville.

"They were able to lift and stencil what the real designs were," said Linke. "All the artwork is replicated from what was actually there."

Portland cutter sleigh

The sleigh was placed on display in 2021 when the buggy museum reopened following the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. A different Portland cutter sleigh, restored in 2022 by Reif, will also be on display during the Christkindl Market.

A cutter sleigh is "an open, lightweight, horse-drawn sleigh that usually holds no more than two people. It was developed in the United States around 1800. Historic styles were often quite decorative. The name cutter evolved as it 'cuts' through the snow," according to the Buggy Museum's display sign.

This style is "square-bodied with a curved dash attached to the upward sweep of the runners. The design is attributed to Peter Kimball, a wheelwright and carriage builder in Maine," according to the Buggy Museum. "Cutters were created for leisurely driving while sleighs were built to accommodate a larger group with more space. This cutter is unusual with the springs being mounted on the sides of the body."

The story of how this particular sleigh came to the Buggy Museum is not known to Linke.

Donations, contributions

The Buggy Museum and Vicksburg Buggy Shop are doing important work, said Linke.

"It's super important to preserve history for the young people so they have a place to go back and refer to it at some point in time," she said. "It's interesting. It's the start of the transportation trade here in Mifflinburg. It morphed from making buggies and sleighs to making car bodies for Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge."

Linke said donations and contributions to the museum's mortgage or endowment are welcome. Checks can be made out to Mifflinburg Buggy Museum, 598 Green St., Mifflinburg, PA 17844.

For more information email mifflinburgbuggymuseum@gmail.com or visit the Mifflinburg Buggy Museum Facebook page.