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'Carriage Lady' Adds To' Cape May Romance

By LIBBY DEMP MOORE CAPE MAY — Hickory goes clop, clop and plop, plop as he winds his way along gas lighted streets, pulling a surrey with fringe on top. Out on Cape May’s gingerbread-laden porches, tourists ana residents alike await the old-fashioned sound and aroma of the approach of 3 horse and carriage. Beverly Carr and the Cape May Carriage Company have been going as successfully together this summer as love and marriage during nightly jaunts along Beach Drive, Washington Street, Hughes Street and Columbia Avenue. While Hickory, Buckwheat or Sonny trot along, Beverly describes the passing landmarks, homes and historic buildings, keeping a firm hand on the reins. Bike riders slow alongside, tourists snap pictures from the sidewalks and children was as Beverly intermixes the stories with "giddap, there, lover boy’ THE CLOP, CLOP comes from the sound of horse hooves on asphalt, and the PLOP, PLOP comes from... well, a somewhat indelicate act that occurs now and then.

But, Beverly has provided for such occurrences by pinning canvas and denim diapers of her own design under the horses. “I feed my horses well,” Beverly laughed as she paused for a red light. Cape May’s city fathers were concerned about manure along the streets when Beverly went before council last spring to request permission for her enterprise, but when she assured them the horses would wear diapers, the Cape May Carriage Company was given the green light. The diapers are changed several times each evening, later laundered in an old Maytag and hung out on the clothesline to dry. “Sun is a natural deodorizer,” said Bev. AFTER EACH carriage ride, the horsed are given a bucket of water, carrots and a lot of petting. “The horses come first with me,” Bev said. “They get their shoes before I get mine.” New shoes are required every four

weeks and are put on by blacksmith Ray Howe who lives nearby Bev’s Cape May Court House farm. Each evening Beverly drives a horse van to a West Cape May trailer where the surrey is kept, then spends an hour cleaning the carriage and hitching it to either Hickory, Buckwheat or Sonny. Hickory and Buckwheat are standard breeds and Sonny is an Arabian, which are rarely used as work horses. Bev’s family moved to Cape May county in 1960 and she grew up riding ponies and horses, spending weekends and summers at rodeos and horse shows. She is now a respiratory therapist at Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital and sayS her seemingly boundless energy gets a boost each morning by "putting two raw eggs and a glass of milk into th,e blender. "You can add a little vanilla or some flavoring," she commented while passing the Abbey guesthouse during a . sundwon wide, getting a salute from innkeeptcr Jay.Schatz as he prepared to take down the flag from the Columbia Avenue monument.

Special Section of the Herald and Lanter/f August 24, 1983