Monday, February 3, 2014

Don't get up . . .

Location:   Westport, New York
Year:   1903

Westport, New York lies on Lake Champlain.  In the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, the area was a popular vacation getaway for "downstate" people who often owned summer homes in the area. 

Thomas Lee was one of these seasonal visitors. In 1903, Lee decided that his family needed new lawn furniture, and so, with some planking, some nails, a few tools, and a lot of ingenuity, he created what has become known as the Adirondack Chair. Adirondack Chairs are famed for their rustic, literally laid-back appearance, and the fact that anyone even slightly corpulent needs to be lifted out of one with a crane.

Lee's friend, the local Westport carpenter Henry Bunnel, liked the chair so much that he patented it, hand-building them for decades. Apparently he did not share any profits with Lee. Why woody?


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