At the Parks-Janeway Carriage House Museum in Santa Ynez, every wagon has a story.
"We need to hold on to the stories of where we came from because if we don't, we're going to lose our way of where we want to go," said John Copeland, Historian at the Parks-Janeway Carriage House.
Copeland says the stories start around 1850 and range from first-person accounts and re-enactments to immersive exhibits. All tell the story of people and their relationships with transportation.
"How did people get to California? And when they got to California, what did they do?" Copeland said.
The newest exhibit, an 1870 chuck wagon, was donated by museum board president Tina Hansen McEnroe, who says she and her husband have had this wagon on their Santa Ynez ranch for years.
"My husband and I really wanted to share this with more people and have them discover what the Wild West was all about," she said.
Named “The Queen of the Cattle Trail” this wagon was used by beef herders out on the range to house supplies.
"So this would be the home where the chuck wagon and the outriders and the person who was the cook would come and they would have their bedrolls and they would cook here, and this was their home away from home," Hansen McEnroe explained.
After its unveiling on Tuesday night, the “Queen of the Cattle Trail” will be a permanent museum fixture along with 40 other wagons dating back to 1850.
