Rockaway

Definition

(Noun) often a lighter version of the more aristocratic, coachman driven horse-drawn vehicles. Light, low, four-wheeled, easily pulled by one horse. They were popular in the United States after their introduction at Rockaway, N.J., in 1830. They had a driver’s seat built into the body, with the top projecting forward to protect the driver from inclement weather. The main body was usually of the coupé type and was suspended on elliptic springs made of several layers of curved flat steel. Some had a reach carriage similar to a Buggy (one or more stabilizer bars from front to rear axle), a lighter arrangement that could be pulled by one horse, and others the more upscale and heavier platform undercarriage, that is to say, the front and rear axles were not connected. Often these vehicles were a more republican version of the more aristocratic Coachman-driven vehicles. For example the Coupe' Rockaway is similar to a Brougham. Also, the Park Phaeton, though not a Rockaway precisely, was of a similar type in that it was a more republican version of the Victoria.
By about 1870 the term depot wagon (or hack) was applied to many carriages of the rockaway type, though most of these were open vehicles with canvas curtains, and by 1890 the term station wagon was also in use. They were made until about nineteen fifteen, and the style was carried over into many early automobiles.