This past weekend in Front Royal offered a romantic pre-Valentine’s Day ride into the past

The Front Royal-based Shenandoah Carriage Company utilized the pre-Valentine’s Day weekend, Saturday, February 11 to be precise, to bring the romance of its horse and carriage ride business back home where it hopes to be more visible in the future. Shenandoah Carriage Company LLC owner and Saturday’s carriage driver Kelly Smith said much of the company’s business has been in the Northern Virginia area to the east in recent years. The company was founded in 2000, employee Corinne, handling logistics of the pre-booked carriage rides, told us during a brief break in her duties. Information on a company pamphlet notes a multi-state regional operation serving Virginia, D.C., Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

Shenandoah Carriage Co. owner Kelly Smith chats as she readies for the next almost-Valentine’s Day carriage riders. Below, Kelly, with co-pilot staffer and guests, heads out of Front Royal’s Village Commons Park area – wonder if that train is running on schedule?

“We go to Northern Virginia quite a bit but it’s nice to be back home,” Corrine said. “We wanted to do Valentine’s Day rides for everyone today, that’s why we pre-booked them. But we want to come back to our hometown. We want to start doing more adventures here. And like I said, we travel all over the place – but coming back down home is where we want to be. So, we wanted to bring our joy back here.”

And it was joy on the faces of early Valentine’s Day carriage riders, as well as downtown weekend visitors coming across an unexpected mode of transportation, that we encountered in the Village Commons/Gazebo area Saturday. – Talk about the Town of Front Royal’s Historic Downtown Business District!

Carriage Company staffer Corrine chats with citizens either booked or hoping to be booked for a pre-Valentine’s Day ride thru time and space. Below, headed down Chester St. toward E. Main St. in Historic Downtown Front Royal.

Corrine and Kelly introduced us to the carriage “engines” – Colonel, the white horse, and Rovein, a Germanic spelling we were told pronounced “Roven”, Colonel’s darker-colored companion in this two-horsepower, two-hearted Valentine’s week operation.

“We’re just trying to be a lot more local. This company was founded here in Front Royal 23 year ago. And we just wanted to try and let everybody know we’re here,” Kelly said, echoing her “right hand” Corrine’s earlier observation.

The Shenandoah Carriage Company offers its services to a variety of events, including marriages, birthday and “princess” parties, festivals, and proms, among others, promising “more than just carriage rides”, harnessing “tradition and timeless memories … For an event that will be remembered in years to come by family and friends” adding with dramatic import – “an entrance that will take their breath away.” The Shenandoah Carriage Company may be reached online at info@shenandoahcarriage.net or phone at 540-635-7745.

It wasn’t quite Stonewall Jackson’s Civil War race down Chester St. (pictured below in famous Mort Kunstler painting), but the Shenandoah Carriage Co. horse-drawn carriage was retracing part of its path, if in the opposite direction, and with Colonel and Rovein sporting Valentine’s Day hearts for the occasion, it was a much more relaxed trip down memory lane for lucky passengers.

Are we ready to go again? Yes, we are!!!