April 11, 2017 – As spring is bringing its usual influx of tourists, Tom Doyle’s presentation this week was particularly on topic. Doyle began work as a driver for Palmetto Carriage Company in 1977 and become president in 1983. He remained at the helm of the company until very recently when his son took over the reins (pun intended!). Doyle originally moved to Charleston to attend the Citadel in 1966 where he obtained his bachelor’s degree and has never left. He is a past president of the Low Country Association of Tourism Executives. With Palmetto he has been honored to arrange tours for U.S. Presidents and other dignitaries, including Neil Armstrong to whom he gave the warning as he boarded the carriage to “watch that one small step.” Doyle noted that most visitors to Charleston do some shopping and walking, but when it comes to structured events most take a tour and the vast majority of those taking tours make that tour a carriage ride.
The tour guide acts much like the father to these visitors during their tour, giving them not only the history and stories of the sights along the way, but information on food or how to get to the airport or how to get to Myrtle Beach. In his years in the tour business he has been surprised only at the number of tourists who return again and again, but how many of them come back for additional carriage tours. As evidence of the huge economic impact (or as Doyle prefers to say “economic caress”) these tourists provide to our community he pointed to all the special restaurants and nationally-known shops in the downtown area which would not be here but for the tourist trade. His company employs about one hundred people and supports numerous local small businesses in caring for the horses and equipment his company requires. To Doyle the tour carriages are to Charleston what the “swoosh” is for Nike! The carriage tour guide is both educator and entertainer, an integral part in keeping Charleston a favorite world destination.
When asked about carriages holding up traffic, Doyle noted that they are not supposed to use Broad and Meeting Streets between 4:00pm and 6:00pm on week days. If you find a carriage there at those times Doyle said, “Report it.” The city will right them up, if the carriage company violates the rules. As for pulling over, he noted that a typical tour carriage requires at least three parking spaces to accommodate the carriage and horses. Additionally, Doyle informed us that the driver must consider trees as well. Typically if trees above the curb dip down below the ceiling of the first floor of the adjacent home, there will not be enough room for the carriage to clear.
Palmetto has around 45 to 50 horses working at any given time. They work less than some may think. Doyle noted that federal employees work around 240 days a year, but his horses work about 152 days a year. The horses spend about half the year at the farm, but Doyle wishes that time were less. In a stall, Palmetto’s staff can tell immediately if a horse is experiencing illness or any other trouble. Out at the farm, however, it might be days before his staff is aware that a horse needs attention, because the pasture is so large.
Everyone seems to talk about heat, but Doyle assured us that heat is not a great a problem for the horses as we may be led to believe. A horse can overheat when it is only 50 degrees outside. It is not the outside temperature, but the horse’s temperature which must be monitored and that the folks at Palmetto do regularly.
There has been a lot of press recently about the city’s tour guide testing and licensing. In Doyle’s opinion, the city should continue to offer the tests, but the testing and licensing should not necessarily be required. Instead Doyle says his and other companies would use the certification by the city to enhance marketing of the services they provide. When asked how the guides determine what stories to tell, Doyle noted his company’s practice of training guides by having them listen to the more experienced guides giving tours. From that initial training the guides graduate to assisting an experienced guide, giving perhaps half the presentation in a tag-team manner with the more experience guide. His company elicits comments from tourists to ensure that each guide is providing the appropriate combination of education and entertainment.
Interestingly, Doyle stated that most of his horses came from Amish farms. When the horses are no longer able to meet the rigors of farming, they still have a great deal of life in them. These horses are the perfect fit for carriage tours, which are less strenuous then farm duty. When the horses can no longer handle regular carriage touring, they retire to a number of places. Some of his horses retire to family farms whose owners just want the horses around for company. Others spend time at farms where they occasionally are involved in wagon training or week end rides. However they spend their youth and retirement, the horses at Palmetto clearly in Doyle’s eyes represent an asset to be cared for and an important image of Charleston’s tourism industry.
— Alex Dallis, Keyway Committee