Mary Lincoln's rocking chair at Bellevue Place

[Susan Higginbotham]

(04-06-2015 03:27 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(01-14-2015 02:53 PM)Houmes Wrote:  She also cleverly engaged friends to campaign for her early release, and garnered enough publicity that it was successful. Was she cured? Who knows--but I had a wonderful neighbor a few years back who was the grandson of the physician who later replaced Dr. Patterson. When Mary was "sprung" from the sanitarium she left eleven trunks full of personal belongings behind, along with all the furniture. His family acquired a lot of it, and he gifted me with Mary's rocking chair. Funny thing is, all the furniture had holes in the bottom legs, so they could be nailed to the floor. This was done because all day and all night she would anxiously move the furniture back and forth around the room.

(01-14-2015 10:47 PM)LincolnToddFan Wrote:  Oh Dr. Houmes... you have Mary Lincoln's rocking chair from the sanitarium?? That is AMAZING!

After Dr. Houmes posted the above information I wrote him and asked if he would grant me permission to post a photo of Mary's rocking chair from Bellevue Place. He kindly granted permission and sent me an image of it. Blaine wrote an article for the Summer 2007 edition of The Rail Splitter entitled "The Other Lincoln Rocker." Writing about his acquisition he says, "It bears the original patterned fabric and the chair has never been refinished." Blaine also notes that he is careful about whom he allows to sit in the chair.

Lovely! (I had a couch from the 1990's with a similar pattern. I guess that's the closest I'll ever come to this rocker.)