Cracker Barrel Architecture

Most manufacturing companies in the United States see a demand for a certain type of product and then rush to patent and produce it. Hinkle Chair Company of Springfield, Tennessee seems to have a product that has created a market of it’s own. Not familiar with Hinkle Chair Company? They have been making rocking chairs for over 170 years, five generations ago, according to their website. A spokesperson for Lowes noted that the rocking chair is making a comeback. Why are rocking chairs becoming popular again?

Cracker Barrel.

The rocking chairs look so inviting and innocent

Cracker Barrel is a chain of “Old Country Stores” that are “Half Restaurant. Half Store. All Country.“. The company was started in Lebanon, Tennessee by Dan Evins. In October 2008 the company operates 581 locations in 41 states. Each and every one of those 581 stores has a long front porch that is lined with rocking chairs. Rocking chairs that are made by Hinkle Chair Company. Hinkle has provided Cracker Barrel with their rocking chairs since they opened in 1969.

Hinkle and Cracker Barrel are both shining examples of solid marketing combined with good products and sound business plans. They deserve a round of applause for this feat. However, I strongly feel that these two companies are behind an alarming architectural trend…

The Cracker Barrel Home.

I am not an extensive traveler, but I have recently relocated to my hometown of Waynesville, Missouri. Waynesville is located next to Fort Leonard Wood, a military installation, and has experienced a housing boom the past few years. New subdivisions with names like Ridge Creek and Hickory Valley have sprang up where livestock used to graze. I can not prove it, but I think that the majority of the local housing developers designed their spec houses while devouring Chicken n’ Dumplins and Fried Okra at our local Cracker Barrel. Continuing the snowball effect, consumers who are wistful for a Walton Mountain lifestyle buy the rocking chairs that dominate the long front porch of the chain. The downward spiral ends with the happy couple signing a thirty year mortgage so they will now have a front porch of their own to put their “authentic, ready to assemble Cracker Barrel / Hinkle Chair rocking chair”.

You Be The Judge…

The Cracker Barrel porch lends authenticity to this faux Colonial

With some retrofitting and an interstate location...

This home screams "Authentic' Cracker Barrel Porch

The owners opted out of the Cracker Barrel Wrap Around Porch upgrade

This porch can only be for showcasing the owners Cracker Barrel Rocking Chair Collection

All the homes pictured above are currently for sale in the Waynesville area. Feel free to email pictures of your Cracker Barrel Porch to snoopdorkydork71@gmail.com If you need me, I will be on the front porch, in my new rocking chair, wondering when The Waltons Season 9 will be released on DVD.