A covered wagon is a large wooden wagon with a curved canvas or cloth roof stretched over it, creating a protected space inside. Imagine a regular wagon with a white fabric tent built over the top: that's a covered wagon. The canvas roof kept rain and sun off the people and supplies inside while still allowing air to flow through.

Covered wagons became famous as the main vehicle for American pioneers traveling west across the Great Plains in the 1800s. Families packed everything they owned into these wagons: furniture, tools, food, seeds, and clothing. Pulled by teams of oxen or horses, a covered wagon might travel only 15 miles in a day over rough trails. The journey from Missouri to Oregon or California could take four to six months.

People often call these wagons prairie schooners because from a distance, their white canvas tops looked like sailboats moving across an ocean of grass. Inside, there wasn't much room to ride comfortably: most people walked alongside their wagons to save weight. Children might sit in back with the supplies, but adults usually only climbed inside during rainstorms or at night.

These wagons symbolize one of the great migrations in American history, when hundreds of thousands of people left behind everything familiar to start new lives in unknown territory.