The Romany people, also known as gypsies, started using their wagons as portable homes in the early 1800s. Before that they walked and carried their things in carts. But the luxury of having somewhere to get out of the rain and climb into a comfortable bed soon became the norm. When a couple were to marry, a wagon maker would be commissioned to build their home on wheels. Called "vardos" by the Romany, these wagons came in a variety of styles, many ornately carved. Though the Romany lifestyle is not as mobile as it once was, these wagons are still popular. Companies in Ireland and England rent them out to tourists, complete with pony, so that modern-day travelers can experience camping in a trailer as it was way back when.
Not to be outdone, the newly formed colonies in the New World, soon to become the United States, came out with their own horse-drawn travel trailer. The Conestoga Wagon originated in Pennsylvania in the mid-1700s. The wagons, originally painted blue, were 20 feet long and 10 feet high. The wheels were 6 feet tall, built so they could avoid the stagecoach ruts. They started out as delivery wagons used to take goods into Philadelphia, at that time a 60-mile trek from Lancaster that could take days. Eventually the wagons, later called Prairie Schooners, would carry settlers into what would become the Midwest and West of the United States. Pulled by teams of four to six horses, they carried the people and their possessions across the country, just as travel trailers do today.
With the invention of the motor car it was a lot easier for people to just get on the road and go exploring. Not surprisingly, a number of creative individuals started to make house cars, an early version of the motor home, out of their vehicles. Most of the adaptations were made of wood, but some were quite elaborate for their time. Kitchenettes, water pumps, beds, awnings, curtains, the list goes on. The first non-tent travel campers were built in 1910 at the Los Angeles Trailer Works and Auto Kamp Trailers. The earliest known surviving example of these trailers is the 1913 Earl Travel Trailer. It is on display at the RV/MH Heritage Museum in Elkhart, Indiana. It is displayed hitched up to a Ford Model T Runabout.
More than any other RV manufacturer, Airstream has been credited for putting the luxury into camping. Wally Byam, the company's founder, was an avid traveler, a lawyer who never practiced law, and a publisher. While searching for articles he came across one that complained about the flaws in a popular mail order plan for a do-it-yourself travel trailer. He redesigned the plans and started selling them. People soon wanted him to actually build the trailers, and he did. After his new found company survived the crash of 1929, Byam decided to go into trailer building full time. He came up with the name "Airstream" in 1934, so-called because his trailers were made using aircraft building methods and were so aerodynamic they sort of cruised down the road "like a stream of air."
Airstream introduced the "Clipper" on January 17, 1936. It looked like a giant silver bullet, with riveted aluminum body and elegantly sloping curves. In many ways it looked, and pulled, more like an aircraft fuselage. It was the first trailer to use dry ice for air conditioning. It carried its own water supply, had electric lights and an enclosed kitchenette. The insulation and ventilation systems were advanced for their time. The price tag for the Clipper was $1,200, which during the Depression was quite a bit of money. Yet the attention to quality in both design and materials paid off. In the 1930s there were about 300 companies manufacturing trailers. Airstream is the only one from that era that survived. The company is still going strong.
Though Airstream is still considered "king" in the RV world, there are many other quality producers of modern campers, trailers and motor homes. Camping trailers themselves have endless variations, from pop-up tent campers able to be pulled by the family sedan to 40-foot fifth wheels that serve as primary or secondary homes for modern nomads. The soul and spirit of these free-wheeling discovery vehicles remain constant. They are a means for humans to get out on the road and see just what is over the next hill, just as our ancestors did.
