Adirondack chairs face Lake Placid. (Provided photo — Diane Chase)

It is almost time to celebrate the iconic Adirondack chair — the sometimes-difficult-to-exit, made-of-various-materials, deep-seated, fire-pit-staple outdoor chair.

I’m usually not surprised when I find a product not made in the Adirondack Park labeled with the Adirondack name. Recently, though, I was startled to discover that June 21 is Adirondack Chair Day. What a great way to celebrate the Summer Solstice and my husband’s birthday. Nope. It’s a marketing ploy to sell chairs while targeting the beginning of summer.

The Adirondack chair concept did originate in the area, but various modifications from other builders have shaped the chair into its current form. Thomas Lee designed his Westport chair while spending summers on Lake Champlain. Lee then gave the design to carpenter friend Harry C. Bunnell, who made additional alternations. Making the chair during the winter season enabled Bunnell to continue business year-round. With Lee’s permission, Bunnell filed a patent on April 1, 1904, which was granted on July 18, 1905. The Lee-Bunnell design featured a flat, single knot-free plank seat and back to the chair, while current Adirondack chairs have a slatted seat and back.

After Bunnell’s patent ran out, the chair was brought to Canada and redesigned as the Muskoka chair, a smaller-sized chair with a slightly curved back and less of a recline. In the United States, Irving Wolpin of Lakewood, New Jersey, received his patent on April 12, 1938, for a lawn chair similar in design to current Adirondack chairs but lacking the word Adirondack in the patent.

Adams Manufacturing of Portersville, Pennsylvania, filed its design for a resin lumbar-supported Adirondack Chair on June 1, 2009, with the patent granted on Dec. 18, 2012. The plastic company has other incarnations of the same chair, using names like Westport and Adirondack.

Though people have patented different styles of Adirondack and Westport chairs, plenty of local people are creating their own versions out of Adirondack materials. The design became part of the public domain when Bunnell’s first patent expired in 1922.

We could easily choose any of the above dates to reinvent a different Adirondack Chair Day, but celebrating the beginning of summer makes sense. Even if the designated day didn’t originate here, the chair certainly did. We can celebrate a comfortable chair that is a worldwide symbol of summer. Raise a glass to your Adirondack chair while in your Adirondack chair. Enjoy!