The "Red Chair" Makes a Journey Across Cape Cod

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 pictures 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—one that has been welcomed at inns and B&B throughout Cape Cod. 

It’s all part of a consciousness-raising experiment among innkeepers on the Cape. The Red Chair is quickly taking on a personality of its own, being photographed by innkeepers in communities from one end of the Cape to the other. If all goes as planned, the chair will have been from Woods Hole to Provincetown and back before Memorial Day.

It all started last winter with a single image. Woods Hole Inn innkeeper Beth 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 a beautiful photo of the chair on Nobska Beach that is now hanging in Colt’s home. 

Colt blogged about the chair, and soon enough, interested fans were asking for more. This inspired her to share the chair with other innkeepers, sending it on a journey through towns and villages throughout Cape Cod. 

Innkeepers all over the Cape have been inspired by the chair, as it has taken on a personality of its own. Tom Dott at the Lamb and Lion in Barnstable 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. At the Captain’s House Inn in Chatham, the chair went out to the dunes and enjoyed a pop-in at the Red Nun Bar and Grill, then went fishing nearby. During a respite at the Platinum Pebble, owner Simon wrote a first-person story about its exploits there, including a yoga class and a visit to a cranberry bog.

To date, the Red Chair has visited:

Woods Hole Inn, Woods Hole, MA (home)

Belfry Inn, Sandwich, MA

High Pointe Inn, West Barnstable, MA

Lamb & Lion, Barnstable, MA

Brewster By The Sea, Brewster, MA

Captain’s House Inn, Chatham, MA

Platinum Pebble, Harwich, MA

The Moorlands, North Truro

Gabriel's, Provincetown

Additional visits are being planned to the Orleans Inn in Orleans, the Whalewalk Inn in Eastham, the Captain's Manor Inn in Falmouth and the Inns at Menemsha on Martha's Vineyard.

Stories from the Red Chair’s travels have been chronicled on blogs at each stop. For a compilation of these blogs, visit www.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. And stay updated at www.redchairtravels.com.