B is for

Brumby Chair Company since 1875

"If a home in Marietta, Georgia has a rocker where sweaters were knitted, stories were told, and babies were swayed to sleep, it is probably a Brumby." Southern Living magazine, Nov. 1980

In 1864 Union general William T. Sherman burned John Brumby's tannery to the ground during the Atlanta campaign and nineteen-year-old Jim Brumby returned home to a devastated landscape. After trying and failing with another tannery business, Jim Brumby enlisted the help of a former slave named Washington and started building barrels by hand to supply nearby flour mills. In 1867 he founded the Marietta Barrel Factory. When flour companies began to use sacks instead of barrels, Jim Brumby bought a hand lathe for $25 at a courthouse auction and experimented with making chairs. (1)

In the early 1900s the company was one of Marietta's largest employers and one of the Southeast's largest chair factories. The handmade Appalachian red oak rockers with cane seats became standards for two popular southern activities: porch sitting and baby rocking.

Here is the building today.


I work there two days a month doing accounting for Wharton Management who now owns the building and leases office space within.

(1) New Georgia Encyclopedia