The Red Chair Makes Journey Across New England

Move aside Flat Stanley; your traveling days are so three-weeks-ago. Where travelers once held photos of Flat Stanley in unusual places, photographers now shoot photos of a humble red chair. Long considered simply a place to rest one’s buttocks, the lowly wooden chair has been elevated to celebrity status, and one that has been welcomed at inns and B&B throughout New England.  It’s all part of a consciousness raising experiment among innkeepers and a way to show “armchair” travelers the beauty of inn travel.

 

Grafton Inn

Grafton Inn

 

The Red Chair is quickly taking on a personality of its own being photographed by innkeepers from Cape Cod to Connecticut. In fact, its celebrity status is growing as onlookers beg to have their photos taken with the chair and photographers follow it like paparazzi.  Like wandering educators, the red chair has developed a deep respect for new places and new friends.

 

Follow the Red Chair’s travels on RedChairTravels.com where inspiring photos of the Red Chair can be seen from beaches, boats, bandstands and mountains to meadows.  To date, the red chair has seen the sun rise atop Cadillac Mountain and the sun set on Mount Washington.  It’s taken a turn on a moose safari and enjoyed a lovely ride on both a lobster boat and a wooden boat on Golden Pond.  It swam with the whales and posed with the Belugas penguins at the Mystic Aquarium, helped bring in the wine harvest and has already picked out a Christmas tree.  We’ve heard tales of at least two relationships with other chairs along the way too!

 

Inn at Harbor Hill Marina

Inn at Harbor Hill Marina

 

Before it was discovered, the chair had a lowly beginning at a consignment shop.  Beth Colt, owner of the Woods Hole Inn in Woods Hole, MA spied the Red Chair and took it home where it lived on her porch for some time. Its modeling career started last winter with a single image.  Colt posted a picture on Facebook of her simple red chair perched on the ice behind her house and watched her page light up with “likes”.  The picture was shared on the Facebook page of Julie Ann Cromer, a photographer from Santa Barbara, CA, who was inspired by the image to visit the Woods Hole Inn. Julie’s visit resulted in to a beautiful photo of the chair on Nobska Beach now hanging in Colt’s home.

 

Fitch Claremont House

Fitch Claremont House

 

Colt blogged about the chair and soon interested fans were asking for more.  This inspired Colt to share the chair with other innkeepers, sending it on a journey through towns and villages throughout Cape Cod.  As innkeepers all over the Cape were inspired by the chair it has taken on a personality of its own.  Tom Dott at the Lamb and Lion in Barnstable, MA took the chair over to Cape Cod Brewery for a growler, and then wrote a short story about the red chair hanging out with all the other chairs at his distinctive B&B (see more at RedChairTravels.com ). 

 

Rich and Deb Howard, co-owners of The High Pointe Inn, treated the Red Chair to a visit to Sandy Neck Beach and the Cape Cod railway.

 

Tidewater Inn

Tidewater Inn

 

After “Red” made the rounds in Cape Cod, innkeepers in all the New England states started asking for a photo session with the Red Chair and the Red Chair’s New England journey was born.  The Red Chair was photographed on Newport’s Cliff Walk, along Maine’s beaches, breakwaters and byways.  In New Hampshire it’s been photographed under covered bridges and even got engaged on Sugar Hill!

 

The Red Chair’s dance card is packed with stops in all New England states.  In fact, it’s already three-quarters of the way through its New England journey. Here’s the Red Chair’s New England schedule (subject to change):

Chesterfield Inn, West Chesterfield, NH      Nov 19-23    

Deerfield Inn, Deerfield, MA                      Nov 24-26     

Applegate Inn, Lee, MA                            Nov 27-29    

Gateways Inn, Lenox, MA                         Nov 30-Dec 2

Inn at Stockbridge, Stockbridge, MA          Dec 2-4      

Mary Prentiss Inn, Cambridge, MA            Dec 5-7        

Hawthorne Inn, Concord, MA                    Dec 8-10     

Emerson Inn by the Sea, Rockport, MA      Dec 11-13  

Historic Jacob Hill Inn, Seekonk, MA          Dec 12-15   

 

Stories from the Red Chair’s travels have been chronicled on blogs at each stop. For a compilation of these blogs, visit redchairtravels.com/blog.html . For a complete view of Red Chair photos, visit redchairtravels.com/red-chair-photos.html and get ready to be inspired. Will “Red” make it across the USA and back to its home on Cape Cod?  That’s the plan. Stay updated at redchairtravels.com.

 

 

Marti Mayne is the B&B Editor for Wandering Educators

 

All photos courtesy and copyright Red Chair Travels

Feature photo: Inn at Round Barn Farm, Waitsfield, Vermont