Rocking Chair Trivia Quiz!

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I’ve been having a lot of fun researching my new series, The Rocking Chair Ranch. For no reason in particular, this got me to thinking about the history of rocking chairs. I mean, did they start with mothers wanting a way to soothe their fussy babies to sleep or elderly people who sought to relieve their weary bones? Whichever, rocking chairs have long provided natural relief for life’s little discomforts.

So, just for fun, I put together a short trivia quiz about rocking chairs. Let’s see how many of them you get right. Answers are at the bottom.

  1. When was the first rocking chair invented and where?
  2. Which came first, rocking chairs, rocking horses, or cradles?
  3. Which president had an affinity for rocking chairs (due to a back problem) and owned 14.
  4. Rocking chairs were originally designed as outdoor furniture – true or false?
  5. According to Irish legend, what does an empty rocking chair mean?
  6. Where is the world’s largest rocking chair?
  7. What does the saying ‘off your rocker’ mean?

  1. In 1725, some ingenious person decided to fasten skates to the bottom of an English Yorkshire Windsor chair. It might have looked a little like this chair. Maybe. That person was from North American, so the rocking chair is truly an American invention.

                             

  1. Rocking horses (early 1600s) and cradles (late 1400s) were around long before the rocking chair.

  1. John F. Kennedy. His doctor recommended rocking chairs for is back woes.

  1. True – rocking chairs were invented for the outdoors first.

  1. It’s an invitation for evil spirits — which explains why my mom always put decorative pillows on the seat of our rocking chair.

  1. Casey, Illinois. The chair weighs 46,000 pounds and is made of recycled wood and pipe. That is one big chair.

  1. A little crazy, possible because old people who can suffer from senility often rock in their chairs.

I hope you had a good time today. I learned a lot more about rocking chairs that I put in this post. Hopefully, I’ll find a place for some of it in one of my stories. Thanks for joining me and, in closing, here’s a rocking chair quote from Theodore Roosevelt:

“There are rainy days in autumn and stormy days in winter when the rocking chair in front of the fire simply demands an accompanying book.”

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Cathy McDavid has been penning Westerns for Harlequin since 2005. With over 55 titles in print and 1.6 million-plus books sold, Cathy is also a member of the prestigious Romance Writers of America’s Honor Roll. This “almost” Arizona native and mother of grown twins is married to her own real-life sweetheart. After leaving the corporate world seven years ago, she now spends her days penning stories about good looking cowboys riding the range, busting broncs, and sweeping gals off their feet — oops, no. Make that winning the hearts of feisty, independent women who give the cowboys a run for their money. It a tough job, but she’s willing to make the sacrifice.

30 thoughts on “Rocking Chair Trivia Quiz!”

  6. Love it! I love rocking chairs (which is why there are three in my living room, two on my back porch, and a glider on the back porch!!

  7. Thanks for sharing your wonderful research. I really like the quote from Theodore Roosevelt. I ao agree. Shortly after we got married my husband bought me a rocking chair. I loved to sit and read or crochet in it. When our two kiddos came it was perfect. I had this rocker for approximately 30 years and it finally just wore out. Now I have a rocker swivel. And I love this one just as much..

  9. All of the chairs in our living room are rockers, Lazy Boy rocking recliners and a wood rocking chair. Thanks for this fun post. I was surprised that rocking chairs came after rocking horses.

  12. There has always been rocking chairs in my family. That was one of the first pieces of furniture I bought for my home. I can not make it through life without one. To sit in one can bring piece of mind as well as piece in your spirit and body. I am 71 years old and I think my rocking chair has helped me to get this far. There is a rocking chair in my family that was handed down from my grandmother to me and I have since passed it on to my niece. So thank-you so much for all this fun rocking chair info, love it!

  13. How interesting!

    I had a Boston rocker, but I switched to a “Kennedy” rocker with my boys when they were babies. I really is a good rocker for the back.

    I also have an armless rocker from the 1800s. It leans back too far for me–I feel like I’m going to fall backwards. Which is a shame, because it’s perfect for my short stature otherwise.

  15. Well, I had 2, 3, and 7 right. I have several antique rocking chairs. I have my grandmothers oak rocker which is a little along the lines of the Boston rocker. I have an oak cane bottom nursing rocker that I used with all of our children. It is a lovely, delicate little rocker. I have an dark oak mission style rocker that I got for one of the bedrooms and a heavy walnut, maybe Eastlake era one that is painted a horrible red that needs to be refinished for another bedroom.
    One day I would like to get a victorian folding rocker. They are lovely and handy. They usually have needlepoint embroidery. It would be a good style for settlers to have when they moved across the country. It wouldn’t take up as much space as a regular chair, fitting nicely into a covered wagon. It would allow them to have a nice piece to start with in their new home. A reminder of more comfortable times and maybe a goal to be able to get more such things once they are established.

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