Community Room Chairs, ca. 1927, various wood
These chairs were crafted by community members and donated to the Folk School during the 1920s. The chairmakers inscribed their family name on the back of the chairs. Many of the chairs are still being used today.
—John C. Campbell Folk School History Center
I’ve always loved the handmade chairs at the Folk School. I think of them as straight back chairs.
In past years the chairs were used often in the Community Room of the Keith House. They were also used at various locations around the school.
Every time I’ve had an opportunity to sit in one of them I find myself wishing I could see all the people who’ve sat in the chair before me over the years. The sitter might have been participating in Morningsong or watching a performance or doing craftwork.
I also like to study on the generosity of the people of Brasstown who crafted the chairs by hand and then gave them away in the hopes that they would enrich their community.
Tipper
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I love that thought, Tipper! Ever since moving back to Nova Scotia where I grew up I see all these chairs at coffeeshops, etc. that remind me of my Grandmother’s house. It’s fun to try to research these things to try to learn about the origins/designs/etc.
Miss Tipper, I have a chair I purchased at an old shop in Missouri, many years ago. The little chair sitting on the floor, in the opening picture, to the right is made identical to it, except for the shape mine is in. I wish I’d have left it inside the house. I have it sitting on my back porch area. It’s under the porch roof, has a weathered gray look. It had been stained with an old blue stain coloring, when I got it. I knew it was old of course but not as old as the article says. The chair is still strong and could be sat on. Just using it for a decoration. I will have to somehow get it cleaned up and stained again and bring it back inside. Have a great day everyone and God bless y’all today tomorrow and always. J.
“ A body can’t have too many straight back chairs .” I LOVE them. When I lost my mother, I took one of our older straight back chairs to sit beside her casket , nestled an old and special cherished family quilt in it and placed my late brother’s mandolin in it . I had totally forgotten a straight back that we have had for decades hanging in the basement unit last year, and Dan was able to procure the hickory bark from a gentleman’s estate from Berea to bottom it. I can’t wait until he feels like doing it. We are “ chair poor ,” no room to put any more chairs. “ If those chairs could talk …”
Growing up in Eastern Kentucky, ladder back or straight back chairs were pretty much the norm in our family and in our neighbors. Although I haven’t any in my possession, I do have four I had made in Georgia in the early 70’s still in use. They are oak cane bottom and have held up well. And very much like the ones that were in many Appalachian households in the 40’s and 50’s. They surround a vintage oak “cat’s paw” 5 legged oak table we found in a family smoke house and used to cut meat on …. We have enjoyed having and using it thru the years.
I love these chairs!! I have 12 of these. Most of mine are from my ancestors.
Most of these are 100 or more years old. We always called them split bottom chairs for some reason. They remind me of my childhood. I am short so I love the fact they are shorter. My feet actually touch the floor.
I watch ur you tube channel everyday. The talk of Appalachia relaxes me. I will be 80 in December and was born and raised in SW Missouri but everything you talk about makes me think my early ancestors came from Appalachia.
Hope you enjoy ur presentations this week. Would love to meet you and Matt someday.
If you reply even briefly it would make so happy. Kathy
Kathy, what treasures you have! Those chairs sound wonderful. I’m so glad you enjoy what we do. We really appreciate your support!
How wonderful to still have those chairs at the community center and extra special to have the names of the folks that made and donated them on the back.
In my hometown, there was an African American man that was blind and he was very talented in caning chair bottoms.
Tipper them broiled hot dogs looked scrumptious!!
I remember when small town churches where I grew up used to have weenie roast in the fall of the year and in late summer at the end of Bible school.
Many of us enjoy our Fire pits, but there is just something extra special about an old school bonfire weenie roast!!
25 years ago my wife and I went to an auction. She was on the look out for dorm furniture for my daughter. There was a stack of old chairs (mostly straight back) that were for sale. She picked out 4 for the daughter’s table. for some reason she had to leave and told me to bid on those . when I got home she asked of I got the chairs. I said yes and when she went out my truck was covered in all of the chairs. “how much?” she asked. “$1” I said. “Each” She asked. “No they were sold as a lot and I was the only one stupid enough to bid. $1.00 for all of them” There were around 20 to 30 chairs piled on the truck.
Some are still hanging in the old barn here. Some are around the informal dining table and some were given to other young college bound students. A dollar well spent.
Harry, that is an amazing story 🙂
I have always called them straight back chairs also. This story brings back a lot of wonderful memories for me. Going into the junior class at Sunday school, we had straight back chairs. My uncle had a few to sit in at his country store, along with wooden drink crates set upright. You could find them in a lot of country homes like Randy said. You just don’t see them anymore.
I love those old straight back chairs. We have two on the front porch along with two rocking chairs. Choose the one that fits your mood.
I have one of the homemade straight back chairs that belonged to my grandparents. I love it & it sits next to my antique table by my front door. I can see imprints of shoes on the top of the wood in front. I’ve often wondered who made those imprints-it must have been generations of my family. Before my Dad died I asked him why the chair was so short. He said it was because they would saw the legs off as they wore down or became uneven, so over the years it ended up shorter. I love old things that are connected to my family. I have my grandmother’s wooden butter mold & churn with the dash, my grandfather’s pocket watch, my Uncle’s tin cup he carried in World War I, my great grandmother’s eye glasses with the slides on the side & my grandmother’s numerous glasses & bowls. I’m almost 74, so all my treasures are well over a 100 years old. My daughter has no interest in things like I have, so I don’t know what will happen to them when I am gone.
I was recently looking for a straight back chair like this to put by my front door. I thought this would be a quick and simple search. I went to second hand shops and even furniture stores where they are plentiful (Hickory, Lenoir area), but had no luck finding one that I trusted to be sturdy enough. It made me sad as I feel like they used to be everywhere I looked…including front porches or even the restrooms at church. I settled on a completely different type of straight back chair, but the search continues for a chair like these.
Tipper- I just thought of you as I read an article in the September issue of Our State magazine titled “Well Said”. It is about the dialect diversity that we enjoy here in NC. Apparently, we have 5 official regions of dialect, although I believe we might have a “right smart” more if we count all the unofficial ones. Hopefully, with more and more people like you and your readers celebrating culture and heritage, we’ll be able to preserve the good stuff for our children and generations to come.
I and of my five siblings received one of a set of those chairs that my parents started housekeeping with. I wish my chair could talk. Mother didn’t like anyone to lean against the wall in them but sometimes rocked a baby in one. Rocking was just lifting the front then the back legs off the floor by leaning forward or backward, not smooth at all! I have a few other odd ones I’ve picked up through the years as well. Made right with wood that was green and other that was dry, they didn’t need nails to become secure and sturdy. Seats could be replaced but the frames last for years if cared for. I see them for sale now but do not bring the prices they are worth.
My Grandma had several straight back chairs, made – I believe – by my great-uncle. I expect it was that straight back that was the reason folks liked to sit with it tipped against the wall to get more comfortable. They were extremely sturdy. Hers had hickory bark seats. I don’t know for sure but I think they were woven loosely with green bark which would conform to one’s shape before it dried. Then it turned iron hard and strong but was still very comfortable. I notice the hanging them up on the wall by the top back slat. (The Amish do that to clear the floor for cleaning and/or other uses of a room. ) I’d be willing to bet (not really, but a common expression) those chairs were made with the simplest of tools, maybe as few as a drawknife, a pocket knife, a carpenter’s folding rule and a hand drill. I’m sure also that there was art to it that I don’t know such as which parts were green and which dry. I think the ‘rungs’ would have been dry and the uprights green, but that’s guessing. It could be said, I think, that those chairs in some ways represent the character of their makers, as you mention. They knew those chairs would (already have?) last a hundred years with no more that ordinary care and would serve daily needs the whole time. Nothing material that I have done in my life will. I’ll have to reconcile myself to that.
they were great in the folk school, which now, instead, looks more like a dentist’s office — or at least it did when i was last there.
I love that the makers of these chairs put their family names on back and the fact that they were donated makes them even more special. I love old furniture. I have an antique rocker that was in my living room all through my growing up years. My dad said it was 75 years old when it was given to him by his uncle. I was a little girl and I am 64 now, so this rocker is very old. My younger sister stood on the back of one of the rockers and broke it when she was little. It has the new rocker on one side that was make perfectly by my daddy. I think of him every time I look at it. I hope to pass it on to one of my children or grandchildren one day. I have other very old small tables that belonged to my hubby’s grandma. I use them for nightstands. All the antiques I have and use have special memories or belonged to someone special in our life. I enjoyed your little tour you put on YouTube Shorts last evening. I hope you’re having a wonderful time at the Folk School this week. Wish I was there.
These chairs are a beautiful reminder of the sense of community of the folks of Brasstown. Something all communities could use more of these days.
I have a ladder back chair that was my great grandmother’s . I was told it was a wagon chair because of its short legs to avoid tipping over while riding in a wagon. Also was told the seat was of white pine strips , made by traveling “tinkerer” in the community
I have a picture in my mind of times when my family left Ohio and visited relatives in Ky almost every summer. One was of these straight-backed, homemade chairs. Yes, my maternal grandmother always had a lot of straight back chairs like these. You would walk out on the front porch and my uncles and daddy would be sitting in them leaning against the wall talking. Mamaw and my mother would be on the porch swing having their own conversation. Inside, when visitors came Mamaw would tell them to “pull up a chair, sit, and stay a while.” A large “Good Morning” stove was in the middle of the room and the chairs usually encircled it. Two or three of my aunts were in the kitchen cooking on the iron cook stove. I remember it being pretty hot in the summertime.
I have my grandparent’s straight back chairs all over my house and treasure them. I also have one with very short legs that was used to sit on when placed in the back of a wagon when a trip to town was taken. Many of the chairs needed new seats. I found classes at the folk school taught by Richard Hall ,on the art of caning . I attended and left with beautifully caned seats in my old chairs. After coming home, I caned the rest of my chairs and the porch rockers as well. The Folk School is a true treasure.
Brasstown is blessed with a man who still makes and teaches others how to make these chairs. Having spent 40 plus hours to make my first chair, it is an experience I will never forget. It is the community of Brasstown and its people that told us what a special place it is. It is why we call it home even though we can’t live there full time.
I have a picture of my papaw sitting in a straight back chair rared back on 2 legs against the old house on the creek. circa 1960s. I love that picture and miss his stories so. It was unusual for him to sit in it as he was typically in the porch swing.
Tipper, you always share things that bring up memories in the deepest part of my heart. I love that about you.
How awesome! The talent and the love and generosity that are represented in those chairs–the craftmanship not to mention the long lasting durability (can’t buy that at any furniture store today).
Side note-I made it to my 70th birthday Sunday–no visitors no special meal or dessert, just happy and blessed to have made it this far (three of my siblings did not). I view my age as being alot closer to my heavenly home than I ever have been and I am looking forward to seeing Jesus and all my loved ones who are there waiting on the rest of us. What a day glorious day that will be.
Gaylia, a late happy birthday to you 🙂
I remember when most all of the old country homes and old time country folks would have chairs like this in their homes. We had a dearly loved small statue in size, older lady in our neighborhood that had some strange ways about her, and lived in her parents home. She pretty much only lived in one room (kitchen) and would line three of these chairs up side by side and sleep and use them for a bed. I would often go and tote water to her from her spring when I was a young boy. My family would pick her up three times a week and let her ride to church with us. Her old home is still there but has fell in, my nephew now owns the property. I never look at her old home without thinking of her. I have a story to tell about how she got me out of a tree after I had climbed up in it to get away from her after doing something I was not suppose to do when she she was staying with my mother so Daddy could work when my sister was born.
Randy, there’s a story that’s been handed down to us about my grandmother you’d enjoy. When she was young, she wasn’t as big as a minute and had a strapping young son that wasn’t minding her. She got after him with a hickory stick and he ran and climbed a tree. She calmly went and got an ax and started chopping the tree down. Lesson learned: You should never try to outwit your mother! LOL!!!