From buggies to the big screen in Blanco

The Buggy Barn Museum

ATTRACTIONS

6/27/20264 min read

By Bonnie Eissler

No one could have imagined that Dennis Moore’s childhood passion and lifelong hobby would grow into something so enormous — encompassing work in television and movies, construction of an authentic Old West town and a museum showcasing a historic collection of horse-drawn buggies, wagons, carts and carriages.

The Buggy Barn Museum in Blanco, owned by Dennis and Kelly Moore and managed by their daughter, Amanda Smith, is the largest buggy museum in Texas and the second largest in the United States. Its collection includes more than 250 antique and unique carriages and wagons from 12 countries, dating from the 1860s to the early 1900s.

Some of the buggies have appeared in movies and television series, including True Grit, Lonesome Dove, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, The Redemption of Henry Myers, The Chosen and other productions, many of them filmed locally in Blanco at Pine-Moore Old West Studios.

A Rockaway — an enclosed carriage with a covered driver’s seat designed to protect passengers from bad weather — was used during the production of the movie Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter on location in Louisiana.

The museum’s rolling jail wagon appeared in several episodes of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. For the 2010 remake of True Grit, the Buggy Barn provided more than 20 wagons and carriages, including the Goddard Buggy, also known as a Doctor’s Buggy, a lightweight, single-horse vehicle with large spoked wheels.

“My dad was always a country guy,” Amanda says. “We sometimes say that he was born in the wrong century. … And I grew up riding horses, barrel racing and spending a lot of time outdoors.”

Dennis was always fascinated with horses and buggies. When he was 6 years old, his father bought him and his older brother a cart and a Shetland pony trained to pull it.

When Amanda was in high school, her dad bought a carriage to transport students to prom and for photos at the Old Blanco County Courthouse. It marked the beginning of a buggy-buying obsession that took Dennis across the country — from Texas to California, Montana, Michigan, Indiana and Georgia — in search of different types of horse-drawn transportation.

A major history buff, Dennis also began collecting Western memorabilia and antiques, many of which are displayed throughout the museum. Amanda says they frequented the biannual auctions in Indiana, home to the nation’s third-largest Amish population, where buggies, wagons and farm equipment are sold during multiday events.

The first movie Dennis and Amanda worked on was There Will Be Blood in 2006, five years before they opened the museum. The film starred Daniel Day-Lewis, who won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of a ruthless oilman.

Dennis provided antique horse-drawn wagons and light buggies from his private collection, typical of those used in early 20th-century oil camps. He also traveled to Marfa to manage and provide horses and wagons for the production.

“The movie world is big,” Amanda says, “but it’s also small,” meaning that once you are part of it and establish a good reputation, more opportunities often follow — sometimes with the same people.

In 2007, Dennis sold his rental business and downsized his trucking business. Since then, he and Amanda have worked on numerous films and television series as transportation coordinators, stunt performers and providers of horses, wagons and props. Sometimes they even drive wagons from a concealed “blind box” while an actor appears to be holding the reins.

Working on a film set can be a major operation.

“We have to transport all of the wagons and horses, and we use our own horses to pull the wagons and carriages because they need to be familiar with this kind of work to do it safely,” Amanda says.

One of the more recent productions Dennis and Amanda worked on was Taylor Sheridan’s 1923, a prequel to the popular Yellowstone series.It “took us all over the state of Texas,” Amanda says. Over five months, they transported 15 horses and 30 carriages and wagons. Amanda worked as a stunt rider, while Dennis served as wagon master.

The world portrayed in 1923 captures the transition from horse-drawn transportation to early motor vehicles. Historic wagons and carriages provided by the Buggy Barn were used alongside classic cars to give busy street scenes an authentic look.

The work can sometimes be hazardous. While setting up a chuck wagon at Palo Duro Canyon near Amarillo, Amanda had a cactus needle puncture her knee. In the spirit of “the show must go on,” she continued working despite the pain.

“But at the end of the day, I had to get a tetanus shot and was told to stay off my knee for three days,” she says.

Back in Blanco, visitors of all ages can explore the 1880s-era replica Western town directly behind the museum. The town features period storefronts and historically styled interiors and has served as a set for movies, music videos, commercials and documentaries.

Some of the buildings are repurposed classrooms from Blanco Independent School District. The church was the first building in the town, followed by the Texas Rangers headquarters and the Republic of Texas meeting room, which houses a large collection of Texas history.The family’s Blanco and Texas roots run deep, including four Texas Rangers and ancestors who were among Blanco’s earliest settlers.

“Everything about this town is usable,” Amanda says. “They have electricity, bathrooms and water, which is different from many of the Old West towns.”

That makes the property a fully functional, one-stop location for productions, with horses, wagons, props, a frontier town and help connecting with actors. But behind the movie and television work is the reason Dennis created the museum and town in the first place: preserving history.

“If we don’t preserve it, it will go away,” Amanda says.

Horse-drawn transportation transformed how people moved and how much they could carry. Westward expansion by families traveling long distances in covered wagons and cross-country mail delivery by stagecoach would not have been possible without it.

FYI • The Buggy Barn Museum and Pine-Moore Old West Studios are located at 1915 Main Street in Blanco. Hours are Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5 pm, and Saturday, 9 am to 4 pm. For more information, visit BuggyBarnMuseum.com.