For David Shirah and Jared Guy, there’s nothing more enjoyable than hooking up the horses and going on an old-fashioned wagon ride down scenic country roads. They have plenty of experience with horses and wagon trains after having spent summers at Yellowstone National Park coordinating trail rides and cowboy cookouts for visitors.
“Working teams and pulling wagons is a lost and forgotten art and we’re just trying to bring it back and make sure it doesn’t die out,” said David. “We love to ride up the road with the stage coach and wagons and see the smiles on children’s faces. There’s nothing like riding down the road in a wagon on a nice afternoon.”
Continuing a Christmas tradition
The two horsemen and many others gathered at Double F Farms, the home of Brenda Rawlins Turner which was built during the Civil War. It was the home of her parents Howard and Margaret Rawlins who inherited the property after DB Rawlins purchased it in the early 1930s. Brenda raised her two sons Michael and Nik Turner on the farm. For many years they have taken a wagon ride from their home to get their Christmas tree on the second weekend after Thanksgiving.
“Growing up, we’d just cut our Christmas tree from somewhere on the farm but it’s so relaxing to take the back roads from Zebulon to TNT Christmas Tree Farms, everybody really enjoys it,” said Brenda. “Last year we had three big trees tied up on top of the stagecoach on the way back. There were people stopping on the road to take pictures and it was nice to see everyone smile as they watched. This year we had several more wagons to take the ride.”
The recent wagon ride was special since David and Justin spent months working on and stayed up late the night before to complete a hand-crafted wagon to debut on the ride. They used a saw mill to cut the cedar wood for the deck and seat of the wagon and they hand-sanded it before finishing it just hours before the wagon’s first ride.
David and Jared have teamed up with Dean Ryan who owns the red Smokey Mountain Stage Line stagecoach and many teams of horses. They hope to offer wagon train rides for events and citizens in the area. They offered free rides during the Lighting of Concord recently.
“We are getting the horses out and getting them ready,” said Jared Guy. “Once they trust you, they’ll do anything you ask them to. We’re getting the wheels rolling for future rides.”
For more information about wagon rides in Pike County, call David at 678-414-8319 or Jared at 678-588-6737.
“Growing up, we’d just cut our Christmas tree from somewhere on the farm but it’s so relaxing to take the back roads from Zebulon to TNT Christmas Tree Farms, everybody really enjoys it,” said Brenda. “Last year we had three big trees tied up on top of the stagecoach on the way back. There were people stopping on the road to take pictures and it was nice to see everyone smile as they watched. This year we had several more wagons to take the ride.”
The recent wagon ride was special since David and Justin spent months working on and stayed up late the night before to complete a hand-crafted wagon to debut on the ride. They used a saw mill to cut the cedar wood for the deck and seat of the wagon and they hand-sanded it before finishing it just hours before the wagon’s first ride.
David and Jared have teamed up with Dean Ryan who owns the red Smokey Mountain Stage Line stagecoach and many teams of horses. They hope to offer wagon train rides for events and citizens in the area. They offered free rides during the Lighting of Concord recently.
“We are getting the horses out and getting them ready,” said Jared Guy. “Once they trust you, they’ll do anything you ask them to. We’re getting the wheels rolling for future rides.”
For more information about wagon rides in Pike County, call David at 678-414-8319 or Jared at 678-588-6737.
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