The winnter: Matt Key, Englewood:
Down yonder over the Palmer Divide,
South of Cheyenne Mountain does the chair reside,
In a town first known from building rockets as a child
Penrose by name, but not big on fame,
Prisons and farms are the name of the game,
Minus the chair the town seems tame
A man named Simmons built it is the talk,
Across the fourteen foot seat one can walk,
Reminds some folks of Jack & The Beanstalk
By Doxey’s Apple Shed is where the chair sits,
On the land of Tom Doxey who retired and called it quits
It sports finger sized splinters, be sure and wear mitts
For a six-figure price the chair can be bought
Including the land and buildings that can’t be forgot
Before someone buys it the rocker may rot
Tracy Johnston, Castle Rock: As kids we grew up in Penrose, Home of the Apple Day celebration. Every year the town would celebrate harvest with the kick off of the Apple Day Parade. We would build floats, march with the Girl/Boy scouts, or be spectators of the parade. It is a great time for the community to come together. Later on in the afternoon there would be picnics with live bands and of course…apple pie. The World’s Largest Rocking Chair is there as a symbol of the best Apple Pie bakers. In my case it would be my late grandmother Roselene Smart. There is nothing better than to get together with family and serve up Apple Pie with ice cream on those hot summer evenings! Thanks Denver Post for the trip down memory lane. My grandmother left us for the pie in the sky back in August of 2008. She is missed very much, however with symbols such as the World’s Largest Rocking Chair we will never forget her.
Jackie Bauer: The World’s Largest Rocking Chair is in Penrose Colorado near Highway 50. We pass this chair every time we head to our cabin in Westcliffe, Colorado.
Rose Bromberg, Aurora: If you’re touring around the southern part of the state, don’t forget to put this on your list of roadside attractions to visit: The World Largest Rocking Chair, located at Doxey’s Apple Shed, just north of Penrose. Measuring 21 feet high and 14 feet wide, unfortunately is no longer the largest (Deadwood, South Dakota boasts one that’s 13 feet taller with 100 square feet more sitting space); however this may be the heaviest, weighing in at a whopping 9,100 lbs. It was built in 1990 from 12 Douglas fir logs, 25 tubes of caulk and 6 gallons of glue by a Fountain woodworker, Dwayne Simmons.
Bryan Fricke, Fort Collins: Everybody knows if you want to see the World’s Biggest Rocking Chair – all you have to do is travel through Penrose, Colorado on Highway 115. “Penrose isn’t on the map, but neither is Heaven” is a saying you seen on bumper stickers on occasion.
The chair sits in front of the Apple Shed, kind of a general store, currently for sale.
The reason I recognized the Rocking Chair is because I grew up in Penrose and my dear grandparents still live there. So, I have seen the Rocking Chair about a million times! It is a must-see when showing company from out of town the sites the area has to offer. You can’t miss it right there on the side of the road on the way to Canon City or the Royal Gorge or Bishop’s Castle. Penrose hosts Apple Days in October and can boast that it is one of the few Colorado towns that doesn’t have even one single stoplight and is home to the World’s Biggest Rocking Chair!
Lee Stover, Fountain: The “World’s Largest Rocking Chair” currently resides on the side of Highway 115 in Penrose. Its original location was at the Feed and Tack store on Highway 8-5/87 in Fountain. It was built specially for the Feed Store there in Fountain in the early 1990s, and it was painted a dark brown originally. The chair had some interesting history in Fountain, too. In 1999, the senior class of Fountain-Fort Carson High School drove a truck and trailer in the dead of night to the feed store and, with the permission of the owners, hauled it five miles south to the front parking lot of the high school for the final morning of school on their senior year. The pranksters were never caught, and the chair sat there four days while the school found a trailer large enough to haul it back.
Bruce Detlof, Aurora: The chair was previously located on the south side of Colorado Springs on a highway to Security, Colorado. A furniture store in Estes Parkoriginally contracted a log furniture builder to build the “world’s largest rocking chair” (at the time). However the city of Estes Park had a city ordinance in place to minimize the size of signs placed on businesses and since the chair was built exclusively for a furniture store the chair was deemed to be considered as signage and therefore banned from being used as an attraction in front of the store.
Kathy Jones, Denver: The chair is in Penrose, state highway 115. But it hasn’t always been there. I remember it being in Fountain on highway 85 in front of a feed store. It was a landmark that the kids, even at their young ages, could remember. When they saw the rocking chair, they knew they were almost home. I am part of a large blended family and in 1998, some of us chose to move to Maine. Well, we all had our picture taken on the rocking chair before we moved, that’s where the kids wanted the picture taken. By the way, a year later, we moved back home to Colorado and the rocking chair had been moved.
Mason Macura, 14:I grew up bettween Springs and Penrose. I attended Penrose elementary school. One year we learned the history of the town of Penrose. The town is celebrating its 100th birthday, founded in 1899 by Spencer Penrose. It is said that the chair sitting in front of the Apple Shed restaurant is a replica of Spencer Penrose’s rocking chair. This chair is also said to be the biggest rocking chair in the world. The chair was built by hand out of wood then painted.
Jeannie Rector, Canon City: The rocking chair is located at the Apple Shed Restaurant in Penrose on Hiway 115. It was built by a furniture craftsman from Fountain 15 to 20 years ago. The chair is made of fir lumber, weighs about 10,000 pounds, and is 14 feet wide by 21 feet tall. It was designed for a furniture store in Estes Park and when it was delivered, the city fathers, said, “Not in our town,” so the maker of the rocking chair picked it up and brought it back to Fountain. Then the owner of the Apple Shed in Penrose kept driving past it and finally decided it would be perfect in front of his restaurant, so he bought it.
Michele Hinsey, Canon City: This rocking chair sits in front of the Historic Apple Shed on Hwy. 115 in Penrose. It is a recognizable landmark for my two miniature schnauzers who start barking excitedly and uncontrollably whenever they see the rocking chair, because that means we are on the way to grandma’s house. My mother lives in Penrose and the dogs know as soon as they spot the chair that we are on our way to her house. The chair was a popular photo stop for tourists, and one Christmas local children could get their picture taken on the chair with Santa. Unfortunately, the property is for sale and the rocking chair sits lonely behind a locked gate.
Jack Weaver, Longmont: It was fun to see the “World’s Largest Rocking Chair” in your paper today. My mother lives in Florence, CO and we pass by the chair in Penrose, CO every time we drive down to see her from our home in Longmont. It’s our favorite “giant” thing on Hwy 115 out of Colorado Springs, followed closely by the giant Beetle bug at the May Natural History Museum (also off of Hwy 115). My daughter always says the giant rocking chair should have something perched on top of it like the big chair & horse at the Denver Art Museum. I think it should be sitting on the porch of the world’s largest Cracker Barrel restaurant.
Kathleen Patrick, Fort Collins: The World’s Largest Rocking Chair is in Penrose on Highway 15 at the now closed Doxey’s Apple Shed. It has been closed for 3 years but the chair can be viewed behind the chain link fence. The property is for sale and includes the chair. The owner has refused to sell only the chair. But it is no longer the largest rocking chair as there is one that is 13 feet larger in South Dakota.
Gary Bone, Castle Rock: The World’s Largest Rocking Chair is located in Penrose along Colorado Highway 115. It sits in front of a restaurant that is for sale, and it was used to draw customers. We pass it frequently on our way to fish the Arkansas River, and on our way to enjoy Mount Princeton Hot Springs. T
Kate Carney, Parker: Just last week our family and I were exploring Colorado Springs and beyond for our daughter’s 4th birthday. Fighting through the rain, and somewhere around Penrose or Florence we passed a place that appeared to have been great some time ago. Though all fenced off, the Apple Depot still had its solitary guard standing out front…the world’s largest rocking chair. Though my daughter was sad that it was inaccesible, it stuck in our mind as one of the hidden treasures of Colorado old and new. (For the record we went on to Buckskin Joe’s Frontier Town and had plenty of fun.)
Joe E. Lee, Aurora: It is located in the North end of Penrose, Colorado on the East side of the road. My hometown is Miles City, MT, which is the town in the series of Lonesome Dove that was the end of the trail.
Eileen Blain, Canon City: The world’s largest Rocker resides in the parking lot of The Apple Barn in Penrose by the side of Highway 115. Having come from Minnesota, the home of Paul Bunyan, and knowing many other Minnesota transplants in the local area, Paul came west to see what drew us all from the “Land of Sky Blue Waters,” arriving at Penrose at dusk he set his rocking chair along the side of the road to see the sun set over the Sangre di Cristos. Along came Pecos Bill who volunteered to show Paul some of the finer sites of the west.
This was once billed as the World’s Largest Rocking Chair. From the picture, it still appears to be at a restaurant in Penrose, that I believe is now closed. It’s clearly visible from highway 115, some miles south of Colorado Springs. I remember reading that the owner was trying to sell the property, but would not sell the chair separately, as some prospective buyers desired.
Ralph Dotterrer, Security: That chair used to sit in a field in front of a feed store in Fountain. I have pictures of my twin daughters sitting on it in that location. IIt sat there for a number of years, until that feed store went out of business and was somehow relocated to its Penrose location. Perhaps the chair is bad luck as the respective businesses did not work out.
