Goshen's Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame Celebrates Trotter Legacy

The Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame in Goshen is drawing renewed attention to Orange County’s trotting heritage with recent announcements from its news page and a lineup of exhibitions that underline the town’s deep ties to the sport. The museum released Living Horse Hall of Fame nominating committee results for the 2026 elections and promoted “an outstanding list of stallions for the 2026 breeding auction,” moves that reinforce its role as both a historical steward and an active center for the region’s breeding and racing community.

Located at 240 Main Street in Goshen’s Church Park Historic District, the museum overlooks the half-mile Goshen Historic Track, established in 1838 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966. Orange County is identified in local histories as the birthplace of Hambletonian 10, the ancestor of American Standardbred horses, and many early Hambletonian races were staged in Goshen at the Good Time Park mile track. The museum itself opened in 1951 during Goshen’s Hambletonian Stake era and is partially housed in a Tudor-style stable built in 1913.

Collections at the museum are wide-ranging and include named holdings such as the Jim Brooks Americana Collection and the Lew Barasch Roosevelt Raceway Collection. Tourism and heritage listings credit the museum with “the largest collection of Currier & Ives trotting prints,” and its displays hold artifacts connected to famous trotters such as Goldsmith’s Maid plus trophies by Fabergé and Tiffany and the first mobile starting gate. The institution also maintains a research library of more than 4,000 books and videos on harness racing and participates in the Southeastern New York Library Resources Council.

Quantitative descriptions of the holdings vary across sources. One heritage listing describes the museum as “a repository of more than 70,000 harness racing photographs, paintings, and artifacts,” while other records itemize more than 1,700 paintings, lithographs and sculptures, 19,300 photographs, hundreds of drivers’ uniforms, and multiple historic sulkies and carts. Those discrepancies point to inventory questions the museum could clarify for researchers and collectors.

Exhibits combine archival material with interactive experiences. “Visitors can also experience the thrill of racing first hand with a ride on the museum’s 3D simulator,” while a preserved walk-through stable displays racing equipment and the Hall of Fame contains “lifelike statuettes of the inductees- drivers, trainers and breeders – who have enriched the sport.” The museum offers lectures, workshops, children’s programs and private events; a children’s session is listed for Saturday, February 7 from 10:00 am–11:30 am for ages 3-12.

For residents, the museum functions as a civic archive, tourist draw and educational resource that ties local identity to summer racing weekends at the Historic Track. Museum operations depend in part on membership and donations: “Museum members provide critical operating support for the Museum. These special friends are dedicated to sustaining the Museum. Join us!” For more information, call 845-294-6330 or consult the museum’s visitor information online as schedules, Hall of Fame developments and the breeding auction shape the season ahead.