The New Flat Stanley: “Red Chair” Arrives in Newport

Friday, August 17, 2012

GoLocalProv Features Team

 

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The now-famous Red Chair takes in the Rhode Island coast in numerous photo opportunities, thanks to the Cliffside Inn's Bill and Nancy Bagwill.

Where travelers once held photos of Flat Stanley in unusual places, photographers now shoot photos 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, and is being welcomed at inns and B&B's throughout New England.  It is all part of a consciousness raising experiment among New England innkeepers, and this week the chair made its way to Newport and the Cliffside Inn.

Innkeepers Bill and Nancy Bagwill, owners of the Cliffside Inn in Newport, shot images of the Red Chair along Ten-Mile Drive, on the Cliff Walk, at several of Newport’s mansions, and many other notable Newport locations, including the Cliffside Inn.

How the Red Chair got its start

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 now hanging at the Woods Hole Inn. Colt blogged about the chair and soon interested fans were asking for more.  This inspired Colt to share the chair with other innkeepers, sending it on a journey through towns and villages throughout Cape Cod last spring.

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The inspiration for the peripatetically photographed Red Chair: Flat Stanley.

Throughout the spring, the Red Chair developed a personality of its own being photographed by innkeepers in communities from one end of Cape Cod to the other. Follow the Red Chair’s travels on www.RedChairTravels.com where inspiring photos of the Red Chair can be seen from beaches to bandstands.  Throughout late summer and fall, photos and stories from the Red Chair’s journey to Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut will be added to the website as they are captured.

For a complete view of Red Chair photos, go here. Stories from the Red Chair’s travels have been chronicled on blogs at each stop. Look for tales of the Red Chair’s travels to the Cliffside Inn, here.

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