December 23rd, 2009
The Original Hammock Shop
At the Original Hammock Shop on Pawleys Island, a historic seaside resort in South Carolina, you can see rope hammocks made the same way they’ve been made for more than 100 years, and then take one home.
hammock stand
“It’s all handmade — the only machine we have here is a radio,” said Marvin Grant, who, along with Harry Woodbury (below), creates hammocks in a small, tin-roofed building, part of a cluster of stores known as the Hammock Shops Village on Highway 17, about halfway between Myrtle Beach and Charleston.
Mr. Grant’s nimble hands loop a giant wooden needle, called a shuttle, in and out of the body of the hammock as he moves back and forth in front of it. Though the hammocks are now made on custom-built racks, Mr. Grant says two broomsticks could still do the trick. He invites spectators to try their hand at the craft he learned 16 years ago from a blind friend in Charleston. It takes two and a half hours and 1,200 feet of rope to complete a double-size hammock.
Joshua John Ward, a riverboat captain, created the swinging “bed” in 1889 by knitting together cotton rope to create a more comfortable alternative to the grass-filled mattresses aboard his barge, on which he ferried rice and supplies between nearby towns and plantations.
Ward’s brother-in-law, A. H. Lachicotte, known as Doc, began selling the Pawleys Island hammock in the 1930s, in about the same spot where the Hammock Shops now stand. Jay Branch, president of the Hammock Source, sole manufacturer and distributor, says more than 50,000 Pawleys rope hammocks are now sold each year through retailers across the country.
A synthetic rope version recently began outselling the all-cotton original, and color choices have expanded from one to six, but all are still stretched over Carolina red or white oak spreader bars. Each rope hammock is marked with a tag certifying it as a Pawleys Island Original.
“I call it a lazy bed,” said Mr. Grant. “If you lie in it, the grass won’t get cut.”
…and if you are looking for an ocean breeze and one is not available, you may want to get one of your own Wind Power Generators