As leaves fall and crisp temperatures seep into New England, it feels criminal to do anything other than spend hours in an Adirondack chair gazing at the Green, or (more fittingly) Adirondack mountains. Blue, green, and red Adirondack chairs dot Middlebury’s lawns and each one seems to have a magnetic power that makes resisting lounge impossible. The slightly greater than 90° angles of Adirondack chairs are superior in combating stress. Their aesthetic was undoubtedly made to be paired with mountainous lake views, and this assumption is hard to argue with. However, the inspiration for Adirondack chairs also has connections to their ability to cure. 

200 years ago, smoggy, crowded, New York City was being ravaged by tuberculosis. At the same time, Americans began retreating to the outdoors to escape the speed and stress of city life. Marc Cook, an office worker in New York City, combined the two trends. Stricken by tuberculosis, Cook desperately took to the mountains to cure his illness. He survived and in 1881 wrote The Wilderness Cure, which established the concept of the outdoors as a place to heal. 

The idea of a “wilderness cure” quickly reached back to New York City, eventually permeating into American outdoor culture. Soon, hundreds of New Yorkers sick with tuberculosis began journeying to the Adirondacks in search of their cures. In response, sanatoriums and “cure cottages” opened, establishing the city to mountain-sanatorium pipeline. To promote absorption of cold, dry, mountain air, sanatoriums provided reclining, low to the ground chairs with armrests to be used outdoors. Before long, “cure furniture” became an industry and companies began producing the “’Rondack Combination Couch and Chair” and “Adirondack Recliner” to tuberculosis patients and the public alike. 

Meanwhile, South of Saranac Lake, Thomas Lee created a chair specifically designed for viewing Lake Champlain. Lee gave his design to local carpenter Harry Bunnell and recommended that Bunnell patent and sell the chairs. There’s no way to be sure, but it’s more than likely that popular “cure furniture” inspired Lee’s design. Slight adjustments and subsequent patents have followed Lee’s original chair, eventually leading to what we know today as the “Adirondack chair”. 

In the 1950s, antibiotics and new treatments meant sanatoriums were no longer needed. Many of the original “cure chairs” now lie in landfills, and sanatoriums are now residential spaces and historical sites. Even though their origins may be partially lost, Adirondack chairs remain idolized throughout New England and the world.