Massachusetts
May 2014
Driving south in western Massachusetts, having summited Mount Greylock, somewhere along the road is this oddity.
Yah, it’s a chair. To see a chair alongside a road is in itself not much of an oddity. Heck, visit Pittsburgh during snow season and you’ll see chairs in the street all over town. Folks use them to save the parking space they just spent half a day shoveling out. We’re world famous for our snow chairs.
What’s odd here is the size of this chair. Did you know there is a raging large chair controversy? Okay, to be honest, I’m not sure it’s raging. It’s more like a mild competition. I won’t give you the entire history, no, but here is a list everyone should keep in their wallets.
Behold this partial list of chairs that have claimed the title of World’s Largest Chair, without indicating whether it is Mission style, Colonial Hitchcock, Duncan Phyfe, Haywood-Wakefield, or whether it is a recliner, an office chair, a rocker or a kitchen straight-back…
1905, Gardner, Massachusetts — 12’
1927, Thomasville, North Carolina — 13’ 6”
1935, Gardner, Massachusetts — 16’
1948, Thomasville, North Carolina — 18’ + 12’ base
1950s, Bennington, Vermont — 19’
1979, Wingdale, New York — 25’
1981, Anniston, Alabama — 33’
2005, Lucena, Spain — 85’ 4”
2014, Saint Florian, Austria — 98’ 6”
A ninety-eight-and-a-half foot tall chair! Long ago, these chairs became sculptures more than furniture.
Alas, our blue chair here in Massachusetts is not on the list. It’s just a little big chair.