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Museum Offers Obama Buggy Used By Lincoln

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Jan 5, 2009 4:03 pm US/Mountain

Museum Offers Obama Buggy Used By Lincoln

Reporting
Kathy Walsh
GOLDEN, Colo. (CBS4) ― This month Barack Obama supporters will pack Washington, D.C. to witness the inauguration of the country's first black president. But some here in Colorado would also like to send along a piece of history.

A black carriage with red wagon wheels that now sits in the Westernaires Museum in Golden carries a very interesting historical connection dating back to 1861.

"It's a amazing that it's lasted as well as it has," said Glen Keller, Westernaires Museum Director.

It's a rockaway buggy that was built around 1850.

"There's a little bit of shakiness in it today," Keller said. "It would be kind of an interesting ride."

It was in that very horse-drawn carriage that President-elect Abraham Lincoln, from Illinois, like Obama, was ferried to the train from his home in Springfield, Ill.

Lincoln then rode the rails to Washington for his swearing in as the 16th President of the United States.

Now, the museum is offering the carriage to Obama as he prepares to make history as the 44th president.

A few days before the inauguration, Obama plans to trace the train route that Lincoln took.

"I thought it would be a kick to have him ride this from his hotel in Philadelphia to the train station in Philadelphia like Lincoln did," Keller said.

It would certainly be fitting -- the theme of the Obama inauguration is "A New Birth of Freedom," taken from a line in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Obama will also use the same bible that Lincoln used when he was sworn in.

The Westernaires know it's a long shot.

"I think the Secret Service would have a heart attack today," Keller said.

But if Obama wants it, the buggy is available. The owners would be happy to make it part of history once again.

The carriage ended up with the Westernaires because the Kalabaughs, who owned it, moved to Golden. They loaned the buggy to Buffalo Bill Cody to use in his Wild West shows. It was later put in the family barn. That barn became a center for the Golden Chamber of Commerce and was given to the Westernaires by the then president of the chamber, Zebulon M. Pike III, the nephew of the man who discovered Pike's Peak..

(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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