Luray Things to Do

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I was a bit surprised to see a maze in quite many popular tourist places in the USA - for example in Williamsburg, Virginia. The function of these places is surely to attract kids and seeing kids running and shouting like crazy it worked quite efficient :-).

The trees of Thuja occidendalis (called American Arborvitae in the USA) creating a one-half mile pathway of puzzlement look interesting. But I didn't spend $6 (children 6-12 years old $5) to enter the Luray maze. It's an attraction for kids or for more kiddy by heart adults than me. Aditionally a few mazes I've seen in Europe were always free of charge. So, I probably think the same about paying for entering a maze in the USA as US visitors about restroom fee in Europe (I don't like it, too).

I've read at place that the Luray Garden Maze is one of the largest mazes in the Mid-Atlantic states. Well, after a few days travels Virginia became for me a Southern state (except vinicities of Washington, DC in northern Virginia) not a Mid-Atlantic one. I simply started to recognize local culture not only the location.

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The Luray Caverns advertise as a home to the world's largest musical instrument - the Great Stalacpipe Organ. It's a keyboard instrument that works by tapping stalactites of varying sizes with rubber-tipped mallets which are attached to solenoids in order to produce tones. It was invented by Virginian mathematician and electronic scientist at the Pentagon in 1954.

Well, despite the proud writing "Man's genius and the hand of God are in perfect harmony" the instrument itself is a kind of tourist trap but its location in Luray Caverns definetely isn't. Today, the organ is played by activating an automated system which works similar to a child's music box - I've heard it and it was nothing special. The instrument could also play manually from the console but it didn't. Instead I've found recordings of the organ on CDs available in caverns gift shop.

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My ticket to Luray Caverns (it cost $19) included self-guided tour to the Car & Carriage Caravan Museum located in relatively small, seperate building. To my surprise there are over 100 cars, carriages and coaches dating back to 1725 in the museum. It's a real paradise for every fan of old cars. Let me introduce some highlights of the museum in the next pictures and tips:

Pictures 1 and 3:
Speedwell (1903)
This small, well preserved, bright yellow car was made in Manchester, England by Speedwell Motor Car Company in 1903. The company existed until 1908. Keep in mind that long before globalisation there were over 1000 British Motor Manufacturers who were in business between 1894 and 1960, including 135 operating in 1903.
The displayed Speedwell 1903 has an 1-cylinder, water-cooled, gasoline engine of 6 horse power. Its driver's compartment is so small that a grown man of today can't get his knees under the steering wheel. The car, made almost entirely of French components, was advertised as "the most powerful, the most flexible, the most silent, the fastest on hills."

Picture 5:
Spider Surrey carriage (1900)

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Benz from 1892 is one of the oldest automobiles on display in the USA and top highlight of the Car & Carriage Caravan Museum. It was one of the very first cars produced in any quantity for resale. It has single cylinder, water-cooled, gasoline engine of 5 horse power and referring to the information given in the museum the automobile is still in operating condition. Well, I would rather call this early automobile a horseless or engine-powered carriage. Did you know that drivers of that vehicle had to stop at every pharmacy on the way to buy gasoline which was available only from pharmacies that sold it as a cleaning product, and they didn't stock it in large quantities.

These cars were manufactured in Mannheim, Germany by Benz & Company Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik, usually referred to as Benz & Cie. In the beginning it was a bicycle repair shop. Then they produced industrial machines and gas engines, finally automobiles. It was the largest automobile company in the world with 572 units produced in 1899.

The first ever "automobile fueled by gas" - a three-wheeler - was created by Karl Benz in 1985 and patented in 1986, six years before the car displayed in Luray was produced. American Henry Ford had an engine running by 1893 but it was 1896 before he built his first car. Well, Americans were focused on steam powered cars; the early ones looked like miniature locomotives. However in 1888 William Steinway, owner of Steinway & Sons piano factory, made a deal with Karl Benz and founded the Daimler Motor Company which by 1891 produced petrol engines in a plant in Hartford, Connecticut.

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Orient Auto from 1903 is the oldest American car on display in the Car & Carriage Caravan Museum. This unique automobile was built almost entirely of hickory wood in the Waltham Manufacturing Company in Massachussets (museum now). It was the first car owned by Ralph De Palma, the famous race driver. These cars were used for postal delivery. Single cylinder, air-cooled, 4 horse power gasoline engine needed a lot of fuel: gas consumption was 35 miles per gallon.

Look at French Peugeot Touring manufactured in Paris in 1896 (picture 3-5). The best seen feature of this car is a single and large lamp put assymetrically on a front bumper. The passangers on front benches were seated back to the front. This car could move at very high speed for that time: 20 mph. It has the first Peugeot engine: 2-cylinder, water cooled, gasoline engine of 4 hour power as well as 4 gear manual transmission. Very unusual feature of this vehicle is the crossbar, two-handled steering mechanism in place of either tiller or wheel.

Parisien industrialist Armand Peugeot produced bicycles in the beginning (till 1926). The first Peugeot automobile (a three-wheeled steam-powered car) was produced in 1889, the first petrol-fueled Peugeot (four-wheeled) automobile from 1890 was powered by a Daimler engine. First Peugeot fuel engines were manufactured in 1896.

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Oldsmobile Curved Dash Runabout from 1904 was the first US mass-produced automobile manufactured by the Olds Motor Vehicle Company in Lansing, Michigan, a company founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897 which for some time became top US car producer. General Motors purchased the company in 1908.

The car on display in Luray still looks like a carriage. It's powered by a single-cylinder fuel engine of 7 horse power. The top speed of this car was 18.6 mph (30 km/h). It's interesting that the first speedometer to be offered on a car is on an Oldsmobile.

Look also at unusual three-wheeler - Riley Tri-Car - manufactured in Coventry, England in 1905. Riley was a British automobile and bicycle manufacturer from 1890 (later British Leyland, now the trademark is owned by BMW). The three-wheeler was a taxi-like vehicle powered by 2 cylinder, 6 horse power engine. It had to be difficult for a driver to see when he was going with a passanger seated in front of him.

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BUICK 1907
I liked especially bright red Buick Roadster from 1907, the sporty little car, the "grandfather" of a long and very successful line of automobiles. I noted exposed gas tank and the lack of a windshield. The automobile was powered by 2-cylinder 10 horse power engine.

The Buick Motor Company was founded in 1903 by the Scottish-American David Dunbar Buick (who invented the overhead valve engine on which the company's success was based) in Flint, Michigan. Buick soon became the largest car maker in America and was the parent company of General Motors, new mega-corporation founded in Detroit, Michigan in 1908. With the production of over 9 mln cars (2005) GM is the world's largest automaker.

CADILLAC 1904
Cadillac Touring from 1904 according to the information given at the museum can quickly be converted into a two-place roadster by loosening four bolts and completely removing the rear entrance. It was powered by single cylinder 10 horse power engine and cost "only" $900.00.

Cadillac has always been a prestige and luxary automobile. Like in Europe Rolls-Royce, in the USA the name Cadillac became a synonym for "high quality", used in such phrases as "the Cadillac of clocks."
The Cadillac Automobile Company, part of General Motors, was founded and completed the first car in 1902: practically identical to the famous 1903 Ford Model A. The company was named after the 17th century French explorer Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, founder of Detroit, Michigan in 1701.

KNOX 1903
Heavy Knox Touring from 1903 was probably the most luxary and expenive car of that year. Well, it cost $2000 but could seat up to 7 persons including a driver. Theair-cooled single-cylinder engine, situated at the center of the car, produced 8 hp (6 kW).

Knox Automobile Company was a manufacturer of automobiles in Springfield, Massachusetts between 1900 and 1914. Well, their cars were too expensive to survive on the borning automobile market. The company made farm tractors until 1924.

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1903 WINTON ROADSTER
This beautiful car powered by 2 cylinder, 20 horse power engine was one of the first automobiles which didn't look like a carriage. It can be quickly and easily converted from a rear-entrance touring to a snappy two-place roadster. This was also one of the earliest cars to be equipped with wheel steering and single-tube pneumatic tires. In 1903 Winton roadster made the first successful automobile drive across the United States from San Francisco to New York.

The Winton Motor Carriage Company of Cleveland, Ohio - established in 1897 by Scottish immigrant, Alexander Winton - was a pioneer United States automobile manufacturer and the first American company to sell a motor car (until 1924).

1909 MIDDLEBY ROADSTER
It's likely the car displayed in Luray is the only Middleby still in existence. This snappy little roadster was found in the Town of Luray, Virginia. It had belonged to Mr. H.J. Studebaker, former freight agent for the N. & W. Railroad. It's equipped with large air-cooled fan, wooden frame and original white rubber tires. It has 4-cylinder engine of 20 horse power placed in the front that was not yet common that time.