Traveller Stable - Lexington

Traveller's Stable is located on West Washington Street, just north of Lee Avenue, in Lexington, Virginia.  Traveller was purchased by General Robert E. Lee in 1862, during the Civil War, and remained his favorite mount throughout the war.  He was present with Lee during many major campaigns.  In 1865 when Lee was appointed President of Washington College, Traveller accompanied him to Lexington. Traveller's stable was constructed along with Lee's house, and when completed in 1869, was his home, along with Lee's other horses, Lucy Long and Ajax.  Traveller and Lee shared routine afternoon rides until Lee became too sick to continue.  Lee died in 1870 and Traveller was in the funeral procession, his saddle draped with black crepe.  In the summer of 1871 Traveller stepped on a rusty nail and contracted tetanus.  He died shortly thereafter at the age of 14.  He was originally buried behind the main campus building but was unearthed in 1875 and his bones sent to Rochester for mounting.  This never happened and the bones remained in New York until 1907 when the mounted skeleton was sent back to Washington and Lee and placed in the Brooks Museum.  In 1929 Traveller's skeleton was moved to the museum of the Lee Chapel where it stood until 1960, when a restoration of the chapel took place, and it was moved into storage.  Finally, in 1971, the skeleton was reinterred in a wooden box, and buried just outside the entrance to the Lee Chapel museum, where there is now a plaque honoring him.  Traveller's stable is still situated next to the Robert E. Lee house, and it's doors continually remain open, so that his spirit is free to wander.  

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