If you’re looking to get around Walla Walla, you can hire just about any type of car or van. But something unique that you can’t find in just any town is a historic stagecoach for hire. The Walla Walla Coach Company offers stagecoach rides for wine tasting tours, dinner excursions, and other special events around the area.
Although this is the first summer that Walla Walla Coach Company has operated in the valley, founder, driver and lifelong local, Skyler Rude, has been training as a stagecoach driver for about five years.
He’s used to driving carriages that ask a little bit more of him as a driver, but with this team of two gray Percheron draft horses, Johnny and June (named after the legendary country duo Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash), he can give a little bit more reign. “These horses are the best,” he says about how easy going they are. Skyler describes them as well tempered, friendly, and perfectly adjusted to the hustle and bustle of modern life.
In fact, most any road that can be driven within the area in a motor vehicle, the stagecoach can travel as well, which allows for guests to plan their routes between their own preferred destinations if they have specific attractions in mind. Some guests, however, might like to let the stagecoach steer more of the ride — looking to the driver to carry them to favored local spots.
For example, stagecoach rides can be reserved for romantic excursions from any downtown Walla Walla restaurant over to Pioneer Park after dark, with the carriage lights aglow. For shorter experiences, the stagecoach offers rides around the Yellowhawk Resort on the first Saturday of every month through the end of the summer from 11am – 2pm.
When it comes to stagecoach driving, Skyler’s put in his time with the history as well as with the horses. The style of stagecoach Walla Walla Coach Company drives is the concord-style coach. The first of its kind arrived in the Walla Walla area in 1859, providing service between Walla Walla and Lewiston, Idaho, transporting mail as well as passengers.
The concord-style stagecoach became popular in the mid-1800s thanks to the comfort it offered its passengers with its clever design using leather straps for suspension.
According to Skyler, the first concord-style stagecoach that was used in Walla Walla Back then, the concord stagecoach would have squeezed in nine (9) passengers within its carriage, plus additional passengers riding along on the outside of the carriage.
For private events today, the Walla Walla Coach Company will accommodate up to eight (8) guests at a time.
So when planning an excursion or event around Walla Walla, consider reaching back to the past and making the journey part of the joy with a Walla Walla Coach Company stagecoach ride.