The Lost Trotting Parks Storyboard Archives

The Lost Trotting Parks Storyboard Archives

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

1893 Sunnyside Farm Catalog Featuring Nelson 4209

The success of C.H. Nelson allowed him to publish a catalog featuring his sires, dams, and horses for sale. This was Nelson's eighth catalog. The 1890 catalog contained engraving images of his horses. This catalog features extended narratives on his sires and dams. There are no images. During this time period Nelson partnered with Samuel Currier of Hallowell, Maine. In 1890 Currier had purchased the Bodwell Farm from the estate of Governor Joseph Bodwell, who died in office. Nelson and Currier formed a partnership and renamed the farm the Pine Grove Stock Farm. The farm was originally owned by the Vaughan family of Hallowell. In 1900 the Vaughan brought the property back into the family. Today the sign by the farm is the Elm Hill Farm. 

The 1893 catalog lists horses for sale from the Pine Grove Stock Farm. By 1893, Nelson 4209's racing days had come to an end. If paid, Nelson would exhibit his horse at tracks across Maine. From the 1895 Wallace Yearbook and newspaper accounts we learn that Nelson exhibited his horse at McFaul Park in Eastport, Maine. Nelson exhibited his horse frequently at Bass Park in Bangor, Maine. The last exhibition involving the horse Nelson was at the Central Maine Fairgrounds in Waterville, Maine. In September C.H. Nelson organized a parade of horses -- the get of Nelson and Wilkes. The parade consisted of sixty horses. Nelson 4209 trotted around the track in grand style. The horse Nelson died in 1909. Nelson the man died in 1915.


The colors on the cover of the 1893 Sunnyside Catalog
may have been C.H. Nelson's racing colors.













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