JULY 12 ISSUE ANSWERS: Enterprising Romeo businessmen invested in lumber, farming and manufacturing. Lard, hoop skirts and cigars were produced in town. Others set up the Peninsular Carriage Company, the Hill Cart Company, the Romeo Carriage Company and the Brabb & Smith Carriage Company. Still others built businesses such as Ayer’s Door and Sash Company and the local iron foundry. In the middle and late nineteenth century the slow reliable ox cart was replaced by the faster and more comfortable horse and carriage. Improvements were constantly being made in the carriage industry which was expanding in the Village of Romeo. Better suspension, better axle position and better attachment to man’s beast of burden, the horse. The below carriage companies applied to Washington D.C. for patents to protect their new inventions. This is illustrated when reading what George Washington Brabb said about his new road-cart in the patent document, “It is the object of our invention to provide