Mace double buggy seat. Photo courtesy of Mountain Heritage Center, Western Carolina University
The Mace family of Western North Carolina became famous for their comfortable chairs, called “settin’ cheers.” Beginning after the Civil War, several generations of Maces made functional, curved-back chairs. As durable ash and hickory wood became scarcer, they turned increasingly to maple, cherry, oak and walnut.
They never used glue, instead inserting dried slats and posts into holes in uncured wood that, when shrunk, created tight joints. The curved pieces were made by boiling wood in water and then bending it. They rarely applied finishes to their chairs.
Initially selling their chairs around Asheville, by the 1920s the Maces were shipping them around the country. Birdie, the last Mace family chairmaker, died in 1973. Mace chairs are highly prized by collectors.
Digital Heritage Moments are produced at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee. To learn more, visit DigitalHeritage.org. You may also hear Digital Heritage Moments each weekday on radio stations WKSF-FM, WWCU-FM, WMXF-AM, WPEK-AM and WWNC-AM.
