St. Augustine has often been referred to as "horse heaven". The ideal climate, level terrain, and the pace of life are many of the city's traits that attribute to this saying. St. Augustine is a place where time has stood still for over 400 years. Visitors to the nation's oldest city, therefore, expect to see the horses and carriages plying the brick streets of this quaint, sleepy town. St. Augustine is unspoiled by the heavy traffic, crisscrossing freeways and turbulence of today's modern cities. The carriage industry is a constant reminder of a time long gone by.

The Colee family established the St. Augustine Transfer Company in 1877 and was able to impress Henry Flagler, the railroad magnate, with their services. Upon arriving in St. Augustine, Flagler toured the city with the St. Augustine Transfer Company and decided to develop this area as "America's Riviera". Henry Flagler was instrumental in expanding and developing the St. Augustine Transfer Company. When Flagler opened the Ponce de Leon hotel in 1888, the Transfer Company was franchised exclusively to transport guests and their luggage from the railroad station to the luxurious Flagler hotels as well as on sightseeing tours of St. Augustine. With over 100 Landaus, Surreys, Cabriolets & Wagons as well as over 70 employees, the St. Augustine Transfer Company became known as "the best livery this side of Washington, D.C.".

The Colee family owned St. Augustine Transfer Company from 1877 through 1996, when Almarie Colee sold the company to Stuart Gamsey. Almarie Colee ran the business with her husband Ambrose, the grandson of the St. Augustine Transfer Company's founder, until he passed away in 1992.

Stuart Gamsey began driving carriages in 1970. His love of the industry inspired him to purchase carriage licenses, as they became available. During his 30 years in the carriage industry, he worked for the Colee family until he was able to secure licenses to establish Gamsey Carriage Company.

In 1996, at the age of 73, Almarie Colee decided to sell the St. Augustine Transfer Company to Stuart Gamsey. Mr. Gamsey is proud of the reputation the St. Augustine Transfer Company has achieved for over 125 years, respectively in the nation's Oldest City. The carriage industry is a means to keep an age-old tradition alive here in quaint, quiet, and peaceful St. Augustine, Florida.

St. Augustine was founded in 1565, thus the St. Augustine Transfer Company has been around for more than one quarter of our city's history; making it the oldest continuously operated carriage company in the nation. So please, join the likes of the Rockfellers, the Carnegies, Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt, Hedy Lamarr, Kathryn Hepburn and Mark Brunnell of Jacksonville Jaguars and see St. Augustine the "old-fashioned way".