While doing research for permitting on a client’s historic home in Fairmont, we ran across this picture taken of it in the very early 1900’s. This was during the horse drawn carriage era, before modern automobiles. The concrete block with the owner’s last name on it is a step to step on while getting out of the carriage, and the two pyramid-shaped stones with the hoops on top are to tie the horses off.
During this era, before 1910, most homes had a carriage house in which the horse and carriage were kept. Later on, as automobiles became more popular, these carriage houses were replaced with garages.