The Windsor style as we know it refers to a specific type of furniture. Often called "stick furniture." A Windsor chair is defined by its construction, and often by specific use of woods: The chair seat is traditionally cut from a single wide, thick, plank of pine, poplar or chestnut -- as these woods were easy to shape and readily available in the early American colonies; legs were turned from maple or birch and socketed into the seat; the back of the chair was constructed of hardwood spindles and, like the legs, were socketed to the chair through holes drilled into the thick seat.

It is difficult to pinpoint the origin of Windsor chairs in America but some speculate that it may have started with Patrick Gordon. Gordon left England in 1726 to become governor of Pennsylvania. He brought -- among his household furnishings -- Windsor chairs. Despite its English origins the Windsor chair reached its greatest popularity in this country where chair makers redefined the English designs. The chairs quickly emerged in new forms and became uniquely American.

The Windsor chair is a democratic chair -- equally at home in the kitchen or living room, in a farmhouse or courthouse. It is lightweight, comfortable, relatively inexpensive and quick to make. George Washington ordered Windsor chairs for Mount Vernon at two dollars apiece.

Thomas Jefferson is said to have written a draft of the Declaration of Independence while seated in a Windsor. When the finished document was signed in Philadelphia's Independence Hall the Assembly sat in Windsor chairs. The independence of the American chair maker led to a profusion of Windsor designs with important regional differences.

As styles evolved comb back chairs were made mostly in Philadelphia; continuous arm chairs were a New York innovation; Rhode Island Windsors had a distinctive short taper at the end of the leg. There was a lot of room for expression.

The population of the colonies was doubling every 20 years and the market for made-in-America furniture grew at a frenzied rate. The Windsor form was well suited to meet the demand for inexpensive and quickly-made furniture.

Hundreds of different types of Windsors have been made in America in the past 260 years but several from the early years are uniquely American and set the course of Windsor design that continues today.

Windsor chairs are one of the great success stories in the history of furniture design and since the time they were introduced American craftsmen have never stopped making them.