Rocking a long for decades. Rocking chairs with rocking stories.
The pandemic has forced many people to slow down and it seems they have had a little extra time to sit. Historically, the rocking chair has been an icon for doing just that. Rocking chairs can’t talk but people can do a lot of talking about them.
Marshall County is home to a few centurion rocking chairs and I went on a quest to find some. It seems searching for them turned up more stories than chairs.
The search began in the courthouse.
First floor, second floor, and third floor, no chair remained but a ghost story did. The tale was that many years ago a rocking chair sat alone in the parlor and quite often commenced to rocking without a soul around and even changed locations. Nothing of the details on the chair remain but the story gives way to much wonder, was it a ghost of the court house, prisoner, custodian, sheriff, staff member, the craftsmen ofthe rocker, maybe one ofthe original masons taking a rest and reflecting on the glory of the structure. On any account of rocker or ghost, a tale of a mysterious rocking rocker is all that remains.
The next likely jackpot for a chair was the long time corner furniture store in the town square. Aha, two surviving rockers present and quite accounted for. The story told by the owner was that the two chairs were the last of a large order from years ago and now remain as permanent fixtures for the shop keepers and customers. One of the owners recalled many rocking chairs about town carefully placed to accommodate sitting and the setting of a good story. The owner also spoke about the popularity of the rocker in that it was often given as a new born gift, housewarming gift, and often a most treasured heirloom.
Next stop, Marshall county museum. It was a homerun for a rocking chair and story. Two survivors, one big and one small. The first rocking chair dated about 1920. This chair was interesting in that it had years of wear and tear, the arms had worn thru the stain and hardwood but the back and seat were covered in an elegant tapestry that seemed brand new. The second chair was much smaller as it was designed for a youth and dated around 1950.
The chair had several coats of paint in primary colors and held the scars that a youth might inflict. These two chairs were exactly what this article is about but the stories the enthused volunteer told were even better. She talked about a rocking chair that she could still see her grandmother sitting in, she even told a story of rocking her own babies and grandbabies in the same chair. Needless to say, the stories got even better when asked about chairs in early Marshall County times.
“Rocking chairs used to be on most porches and nearly every living room and Boston rocker was a common household word and furnishing,” she said. “The Boston rocker was also one of the first items made on an assembly line in the US and that you could easily order one and have it delivered right to your doorstep similar to today’s Amazon.”
The last search of the day was an old woodworking shop where the tools hanging on the wall were at least one century old. Right there it sat on a work table an 1880 rocking chair barely breathing, the rocker was in for rehab, as some of the wood was separating and one of the rocking bows was completely missing. Although the rocker seemed in desperate shape, what remained seemed to be in fair condition for a chair over 140 years old. The original finish was untouched other than many coats of furniture oil and a few small scratches. The chair was obviously older than Marshall County and didn’t exactly land here upon statehood but arrived as soon as it could. The craftsman said the chair had been purchased about 30 years ago at an estate auction as a sitting place for a banjo player somewhere close to Dallas, Texas.
As a tribute to the Rocking chair, it seems only appropriate to include some pertinent information about its origin. The term rocking chair first appeared in England the year of 1725. Ben Franklin didn’t exactly invent the chair but did greatly improve upon one used in his childhood nursery. His design improvements gave way to the Boston rocker. Rocking chairs are seen scattered about MC on porches of houses and businesses and many unseen by the passerby within the walls of these establishments
Is the rocking chair a place for ghosts to sit? Probably not, but it does seem to be both a time capsule and spaceship for a county still flourishing and many bottoms needing a place to sit. After much searching, apparently rocking chairs have been an icon of Marshall County since its origin, and God willing, will prevail much longer as a place to sit and an everlasting gateway for future stories.