Issues → July/August 2009 → Features →
Adirondack Chairs
(page 5 of 5)
Then the joints start to go: Where the slats are screwed in, a bit of rot forms. The paint comes off, sometimes revealing unfortunate fashions of the past--like the time you decided to paint them lime green during that one really long, hot summer.
And finally--usually when somebody you don't know very well is visiting--he sits down heavily and the chair starts to drift sideways and your guest says, "Uh-oh!"
And then the whole chair deconstructs and becomes a pile of boards. Then you cart it off to the dump or burn it in the next bonfire.
And that's okay. Because here's the thing about the Goldilocks Project: There's never an end to it. Looking for "just right" becomes a calling. When the last chair goes, there's always a new one waiting to be discovered. And that keeps me going.
Summer is Calling
The Inn on the Library Lawn
Open year-round
1234 Stevenson Road
Westport, NY
888-577-7748, 518-962-8666
theinnonthelibrarylawn.com
Basin Harbor Club
Open May 13 to October 18
4800 Basin Harbor Road
Vergennes, VT
800-622-4000, 802-475-2311
basinharbor.com
Zeke Leonard Design
Fall River, MA
zekeleonard.com
Zwicker Woodworking Ltd.
Open April-Sept.; Oct.-March by appointment only
13273 Highway 3
Upper LaHave, Nova Scotia
902-543-8736
zwickerltd.com
Reader Comments
Comment from Don Gamache on July 28, 2009
I love the article. I live away from New England now but an Adirondac chair always makes me feel at home. My first major woodworking project (I was 12, a long time ago) was making one for my Mom. She had it for years. Good memories are made in these chairs.
Comment from Carol Podgorski on July 29, 2009
I really have enjoyed reading this article and have printed it as well . My experience with the Adirondack chair began in Bar Harbor , Maine where my husband and I have been vacationing in either July or August for over ten years . We have also enjoyed " relaxing " in them in the White Mountains . Our backyard has two Adirondack chairs set under the trees and one that has never been used ; we like to have one ready for an " Endless Summer " .
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