 In the early 1800's, as the pioneers crossed the Appalachian Mountains, among
the many discoveries they made was the hickory sapling. This small diameter tree
grew throughout the Midwest in groups of twenty to thirty, surrounded by much larger
trees.As these saplings struggled towards the sunlight above,
they grew straight and tall - yet the diameter did not exceed two to three inches - even
after twenty to thirty years of growth. If you're a pioneer without furniture, you
soon realize that this amazing hardwood sapling made for ideal chair and table frames.
You could soak it in boiling water and bend it to make hoops.
You could weave it's inner bark to make seats and backs, and you could see new trees
sprout from the same stump - over and over again. And so it became the material of
choice for our ancestor's homes.
In southern Indiana, a newly transplanted North Carolinian, Billy
Richardson, began to make hickory chairs and sell them on Saturdays on the town square in
Martinsville. Legend has it that he and his father had made the original Andrew
Jackson hoop chairs for the President's home, The Hermitage.
Others in the Martinsville area studied Richardson's products and
banded together in 1892 in an abandoned church, producing hickory sapling furniture as a
full-time business. They chose "Old Hickory" as the company name, the same
nick-name as the late President Jackson.
When the company incorporated in 1898, a full line of products was
available. Shipping across the country to homes and resorts - the company also began
furnishing nearly all of the new national park lodges, including the Old Faithful Inn at
Yellowstone National Park. The dining chairs in the main hall are the very same
chairs shipped and installed in 1906.
Today's Old Hickory combines designs from the company's history
along with more contemporary applications for home. Yet the process of hand-crafting
each piece remains very much the same. Attention to detail, the careful matching of
parts, the difficult assembly with mortise and tenon, and the meticulous hand weaving
process, make Old Hickory Furniture's products unique, comfortable, and very durable.
After one hundred years, old fashioned care continues at Old Hickory Furniture
Company, the home of America's genuine, original furniture.
Old Hickory Furniture Company
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