An Illustrated History of the Picnic TableOn Memorial Day weekend , we celebrate an icon of vernacular design . Martin Hogue The New YorkerPlaces Journal , May 2018 . Accessed 23 Apr 2019 President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton , in 2009 . [ Pete Souza ] From campground to crab shack to suburban backyard , the picnic table is so ubiquitous that it is nearly invisible as a designed object . Yet this ingenious form — a structurally bolted frame that unites bench seats and table into a sturdy package — has remained largely unchanged since the 1930 s . Having transcended the picnic , it is now the ideal setting for any outdoor event that compels us to face one another squarely across a shared surface . Even a conversation between the former President and Secretary of State is transformed . There is something intensely familiar about this massive table on the White House grounds ; though it is off - limits to the public , we can imagine sitting there ourselves . The table seems to humanize its powerful occupants , even as it curiously diminishes them with its over - sized components . 1 These qualities of familiarity and abundance have made the picnic table an American icon . on the website of The Home Depot , buyers can choose from among 102 models , priced between $ 109 and $ 2 , 260 . 2 That seems an impossible variety , and we should be grateful that we typically don ’ t make the purchasing decisions . For most of the past hundred years , we have occupied picnic tables chosen by others , by the operators of car washes and rest stops and fairgrounds , and it is never uncomfortable . From the Blanket to the GroveThomas Cole , A Pic - Nic Party ( 1846 ) . [ Brooklyn Museum of Art ] Despite its ubiquity , and despite its bulk and permanence , the picnic table has never managed to supersede its namesake , the Victorian ideal of a daytime meal “ eaten on a blanket on a fine patch of grass . ” 3 Thomas Cole ’ s 1846 painting A Pic - Nic Party captures the spirit of the event : “ a day in nature for feasting , amusements , privacy amid masses , and freedom . ” 4 Spontaneously laying down the blanket is the first act of claiming the picnic site . Before any of the supplies are unpacked or the occupants seated , we declare : this is the spot . The gesture is decisive but also temporary ; when the meal is over , the blanket can be removed by a single pair of hands , shaken free of crumbs , and returned to the provisions basket — one last ritual before the party ends . In Cole ’ s painting , the picnickers ’ imaginations may be colored by a Romantic conception of nature , but this is no wilderness : note the tree stump in the foreground . The blanket also serves a utilitarian role , mediating revelers ’ contact with nature . Mary Ellen Hern reports that 19 th - century etiquette manuals advised picnickers to bring “ canvas camp chairs , mats and pieces of carpet … to give people easy seats … [ and to ] prevent the damp striking through thin dresses . ” 5 Biologist Deborah M . Gordon is more direct : “ the observation that where there is a picnic there will be ants rests on the notion that there is an ant lurking everywhere , all the time , ready to mobilize its nest mates when a picnic appears . ” 6 In its attempt to recreate the indoor dining table , the picnic blanket represents a domestication of the ground surface . It functions as a tablecloth , defining an area where the meal can be properly laid out and consumed . In the opening sequence of Charles and Ray Eames ’ s Powers of Ten ( 1977 ) , we meet a young couple picnicking on a near perfect square of carefully arranged blankets whose colorful textures and rectilinear edges contrast sharply with the grass . The overhead shot is almost clinical : the emphasis here is not on the beauty of the surroundings , as in Cole ’ s painting , but rather on the set - up itself . The blanket seems to hover slightly over the ground , and we , too , hover above the meticulous composition . Then the camera moves higher , and the picnic shrinks rapidly , until we see the edges of the park and other landmarks along the Chicago lakeshore . Jerome P . Thompson , A Picnick in the Woods of New England ( 1855 ) . [ Museum of Fine Arts , Boston ] If we accept the Victorian premise of moving a meal from the dining room to the outdoors , then we must ask , Why not move the entire food - consumption apparatus — the tablecloth , utensils , dishware , tables , and chairs — along with the food itself ? The impractical question is answered by Jerome B . Thompson ’ s Picnick at Camden , Maine ( 1855 ) , which depicts conventional furniture that has been moved outdoors . While this arrangement no doubt increased the comfort of participants , it meant the picnic needed to be located near the home . In the late 19 th and early 20 th century , enterprising recreationalists ( often gearheads ) began experimenting with ways of making the table as portable as the provisions basket and the blanket . Arthur Wigram Allen and his brother Boyce picnic in Sutton Forest , Australia , 1900 . [ Arthur Wigram Allen ] As outdoor dining became more popular in the late 19 th century , high demand led to the creation of designated “ picnic groves ” in urban areas — the very place that early picnic enthusiasts had sought to escape . Furnished with rudimentary tables and benches like those in Chicago ’ s South Park ( 1871 ) , the picnic grove was “ a tidied up natural landscape … neither a constructed landscape like an urban park nor a developed pleasure ground , although some of these groves had passive structures like pavilions and hearths . ” 7 The tables were made from rough - hewn boards that could withstand heavy use , and they were fixed in place , their posts embedded deep in the ground . In lieu of individual chairs , they had long benches without backs . A single table could be used by several groups over the course of a day , and some picnic groves accommodated several parties simultaneously with dense arrangements of tables and benches . The picnic table had by now become less an accessory than a destination . Eventually , this model was emulated outside the city , in tourist destinations like the Mohonk Mountain house on Lake Mohonk , near Poughkeepsie , New York , and in the national parks . Victor Anderson ’ s plan for Stribley Park , Stockton , California , 1924 ; emphasis of picnic grounds by the author . Picnic grove at Cedar Point , an amusement park on Lake Erie , Sandusky , Ohio ; postcard dated 1911 . Ready for Lunch Time — Sequoia National Park , 1927 . [ H . E . Roberts ] From the Mountains to the Auto CampStill , the picnic was always conceived as a one - day affair . 8 More serious outdoor enthusiasts were drawn to the wilds far beyond the city , where they camped for weeks at a time and made their own rustic tables . The Adirondacks experienced its first tourist craze in 1868 , after the Reverend H . H . Murray published Adventures in the Wilderness . An 1886 photograph from Camp Colden , near Lake Placid , shows a party of men seated at a table framed by posts planted in the ground . Warren Miller observed , in Camp Craft : Modern Practice and Equipment ( 1915 ) , that “ the necessity of an eating table of some sort has been given much study by veteran outfitters , so important it is in the long run . For the permanent camp the log and plank tables … solve the problem amply and , with a log bench by each side , make for comfortable , happy meals . ” 9 Similarly , Hyatt Verrill opined that such tables could be made “ very easily by driving forked sticks into the earth and then lashing a rectangular frame to them and which should then be covered by birch and bark . … In place of the bark , rods or withes may be lashed close together , or cords may be stretched across the top and wattled with willow , withes or other materials . Chairs or benches may be constructed in the same manner . ” 10 Made from unmilled lumber harvested near the campsite — the same wood used to construct shelters and keep the fire going — these tables were designed for intensive use , presumably for the duration of the party ’ s stay in the wilderness . on the last day , they could break camp ( literally ) and throw the table straight into the fire , leaving few traces . A rustic log table at Camp Colden , near Lake Placid , New York , 1886 . [ Craig B . Wood ] Two key features distinguish the modern picnic table from the furniture found in picnic groves and rustic camps at the turn of the 20 th century : the combination of seats and tabletop into a single unit , and the design ’ s near - unshakable stability . These improvements were anticipated by C . H . Nielsen , who in 1904 patented a “ table capable of being cheaply made , which is portable and equipped with seats , preferably on both sides … particularly designed and adapted for use at picnics and other gatherings of a similar character where temporary use only is required . ” 11 one of his drawings showed a collapsed table nearly as flat as its distant counterpart , the 19 th century picnic blanket . C . H . Nielsen , “ Table , ” U . S . Patent , 1904 . In hindsight , the portability of Nielsen ’ s table was less significant than its innovative frame . He borrowed the X - shaped leg from another icon of American furniture design , the 18 th - century sawbuck table , and added integrated seating . The bench seats allowed the possibility of a weight imbalance that would destabilize the table , as shown in a hilarious illustration from The Family Flivvers to Frisco ( 1928 ) . To address this hazard , Nielsen supported the ends of each bench with vertical posts to create eight points of contact with the ground . Frederick Van de Water , The Family Flivvers to Frisco , 1928 . Overland Park campground , Denver , ca . 1925 . [ Denver Public Library ] This awkward design feature could be seen in tables produced throughout the 1920 s , including those at Overland Park , the huge municipal automobile campground in Denver . Overland ’ s 600 campsites were laid out on individual plots — a novelty in those days — and each site was marked by a sturdy table whose long benches were supported by vertical posts and diagonal braces . The final refinement of the modern picnic table was the elimination of the redundant structural supports . In 1918 , Harold R . Basford patented the first drawing of the picnic table as we know it today . 12 Basford ’ s table , like Nielsen ’ s , was collapsible , so that tourist campers roaming the countryside in a new age of mobility could pack the table along with their tents , bedding , and cook stoves . As leisure activities were further commercialized , the Coleman Company defined a new market for portable recreational gear . H . R . Basford , “ Folding Camp Table , ” U . S . Patent , 1918 . Did Neilsen ’ s patent — the first to integrate seating , tabletop , and a diagonal structure — mark the moment when the design of the picnic table was first resolved into the spare , utilitarian form we know today ? Or was he simply adapting an earlier , undocumented design so that it could be transported ? There is evidence that similar picnic tables were used as early as 1916 , in the Forest Service campground at Eagle Creek , Oregon , the first developed camping facility on American public lands . 13 Those tables had no hinged components , but period photographs of a disassembled table suggest that portability was an important concern . It would make sense to use tables made from components that could be mass - produced in woodshops and transported on a flatbed truck to remote campsites . They could be assembled on site and later broken down and stored for the off - season . Even today , wood picnic tables sold at hardware stores are typically flatpacked for delivery . Eagle Creek campground , Oregon , 1919 . [ U . S . Forest Service ] Picnic tables used in Mount Hood National Forest , Oregon , ca . 1919 . [ U . S . Forest Service ] The Roofless CabinBy 1935 , the picnic table had been sufficiently standardized that Albert Good , an architectural consultant for the National Park Service , could write , in his guide to Park Structures and Facilities : “ An average of the dimensional limits of the human frame and uniformity of sorts in the distribution of hinges thereof have long since determined certain basic dimensions for the picnic table . ” 14 He was correct that builders had adopted standard measurements for the width of the table top and seat , their respective heights above the ground , and the spacing between them ; but he was wrong to assert a universal , ideal form , as if drawings and specifications had played no role in normalizing those dimensions in the first place . Although Nielsen ’ s and Basford ’ s patents established the basic design principles , they did not include measurements . The National Park Service ’ s Table for Public Auto Camp ( 1922 ) first laid out the dimensions of a picnic table , and it also recorded a structural improvement , two diagonal braces along the main axis that provided additional stability . Remarkably , this document broke down the table into its individually dimensioned components : fifteen boards of milled lumber , including 2 × 4 s and 2 × 6 s for the frame and 2 × 12 s for the table top and seats . The drawing even specified where the holes should be drilled for the structural bolts . A small note indicated that the design was “ adapted from a Forest Service Table , ” perhaps the same model identified earlier at Eagle Creek . Table for Public Auto Camp , 1922 . [ U . S . National Park Service ] It is not surprising that the first technical drawing ( at least the first that survives ) would be issued by a government agency rather than a private inventor . The National Park Service , United States Forest Service , and Civilian Conservation Corps were major developers of campgrounds and picnic areas , especially during the New Deal era . As these facilities grew in popularity and size , the federal standards would prove more influential than comparable designs at independent municipal campgrounds . 15 Good ’ s 1935 handbook was the authoritative standard . Beautifully illustrated and enlivened with the author ’ s delightful commentary , it reported specifications for a range of infrastructural components in national parks . “ Lamentable is the fact , ” he observed , “ that during the six days given over to creation , picnic tables , outdoor fireplaces , footbridges and many other of man ’ s requirements , even in natural surroundings , were negligently and entirely overlooked . ” 16 The chapter on picnic tables reviewed several designs , some more rustic than others , and examples of their adaptation in parks across the country . These were typically massive structures , made from milled lumber , roughly sawn logs , or stone slabs , and their immobility was an important design feature which helped define the bounds of the campsite and limit human impact . Excerpt from Albert Good , Park Structures and Facilities , 1935 . [ U . S . National Park Service ] Emilio Meinecke , plant pathologist and consultant for the National Park Service , was an early observer of the destructive effects of camping in open campgrounds : “ When man moves into the camp and adds to the handicaps by trampling out the grass and lower plants , or hardening and compacting the soil , of scattering the ashes and of scorching the foliage with his wood camp fire , the limits of toleration may be reached and overstepped . ” Meinecke was especially concerned about automobiles : “ The car , much clumsier to handle , crushes shrubs and sideswipes trees , tracing off living bark and severely injuring them . Oil , a deadly poison to plants , drips from the parked automobile . ” 17 Meinecke proposed to mitigate those impacts through design , and his ideas were tremendously influential . He proposed the “ definite fixation ” of the automobile , the fire pit , the tent and the table , while allowing an informal network of trails between these key infrastructural components . Of the picnic table in particular , he advised , “ Only tables of very heavy construction involving considerable expenditure can be considered . ” 18 Echoing this perspective , the Park Service manual observed , “ The fixed position , if a good one , is desirable , and is achieved by means of the weight of the picnic unit or table , or better still , by anchoring . ” 19 Emilio Meinecke , illustration from A Camp Ground Policy , 1932 . [ U . S . Forest Service ] Terry Young notes that , for Meinecke , this vision of the campsite as a roofless cabin “ included many of the same essential commodities that were found in a suburban home : the garage , the kitchen stove , the dining table and the sleeping quarters , with enough space to move around without inconvenience . ” 20 only a hundred years before , the Victorians had shared in this vision , moving the meal from the interior confines of the dining room to the out - of - doors . So their disorientation would not be complete , they tried to lend a measure of formality to the occasion by using blankets as tablecloths , creating a space around which the meal could be set and consumed . By the 1930 s , the entire apparatus of domestic life — not only eating , but cooking and sleeping as well — had been moved outdoors . Hundreds of families would be going through the same motions in a single campground , many within sight of one another . Martin Hogue , Island Park campground , Sanger , California . From Thirtyfour Campgrounds ( 2016 ) . In his history of the picnic , Walter Levy wrote , “ All picnics might be structurally similar , but the preferences are idiosyncratic . ” 21 That observation also applies to picnic tables . While their basic features are essentially similar , they are distinguished by the details , like additional cleats , narrower boards , bigger bolts , chamfered corners , and so forth . In these differences we locate the table ’ s essence , the aspects that make it both unique and unremarkable . Tracing the design history of a culturally significant yet nearly invisible object , we collect drawings and photographs , arrange them by date , and compare their attributes . We start with the modern features of the table , and move back in time , observing those features as they become less and less clear , until they no longer exist : this is the beginning of the history . Now , let ’ s eat ! Places Journal is Supported by Readers Like You . Please Subscribe or Donate . Author ’ s NoteSpecial thanks to Terry Young , professor emeritus , Cal Poly Pomona ; John Sprinkle , bureau historian , National Park Service ; Lincoln Bramwell , chief historian , United States Forest Service ; Eric Reinert , curator , Office of History , U . S . Army Corps of Engineers . NotesThe table , installed in March 2009 on the South Lawn , was inlaid with bronze plaques with the names of all the U . S . Presidents , and dedicated to Rear Admiral Stephen W . Rochon , former Director of the Executive Residence and the first African American to serve as White House Chief Usher . ↩ This is the total number of items responsive to a search for “ picnic tables , ” conducted in March 2018 , though not all of these items would be considered picnic tables in the conventional sense . ↩ Walter Levy , The Picnic : A History ( Plymouth : AltaMira Press , 2014 ) , 45 . ↩ Mary Ellen W . Hern , “ Picnicking in the Northern United States , 1840 - 1900 , ” Winterthur Portfolio , 24 : 2 / 3 ( Summer / Autumn 1989 ) , 15 . ↩ D . Power , Anna Maria ’ s Housekeeping ( Boston : Lothrop , 1884 ) , qtd . in Hern , 10 . ↩ Deborah M . Gordon , Ants at Work : How an Insect Society Is Organized ( Simon Schuster , 1999 ) , qtd . in Levy , 53 . ↩ Hern , 7 . ↩ Levy , 7 . ↩ Warren Miller , Camp Craft , Modern Practice and Equipment ( New York : Scribner ’ s Sons , 1915 ) , 237 . ↩ Hyatt Verrill , The Book of Camping ( New York : Knopf , 1917 ) , 84 . ↩ C . H . Nielsen , “ Table , ” U . S . Patent No . 769 , 354 ( September 6 , 1904 ) . ↩ H . R . Basford , “ Folding Camp Table , ” U . S . Patent # 1 , 272 , 187 ( July 9 , 1918 ) . ↩ Terence Young , Heading Out : A History of American Camping ( Ithaca : Cornell UP , 2017 ) , reports that Eagle Creek campground opened in 1916 . A 1919 photograph shows picnic tables in use there . ↩ Albert H . Good , ed . , United States Department of the Interior and National Park Service , Park Structures and Facilities ( Rahway , NJ : Quinn & Boden , 1935 ) . ↩ This 1922 drawing was widely reproduced and surfaces repeatedly over the years in the archives of the National Park Service , in various states of clarity . ↩ Good , 60 . ↩ Emilio P . Meinecke , “ Camp Planning and Camp Reconstruction ” ( U . S . Forest Service , California Region , 1934 ) , 7 ; and Emilio P . Meinecke , “ A Camp Ground Policy ” ( U . S . Forest Service , 1932 ) , 2 . ↩ Meinecke , A Camp Ground Policy , p . 12 . ↩ Good , 58 . ↩ Young , 166 . ↩ Levy , 48 . ↩ CiteMartin Hogue , “ An Illustrated History of the Picnic Table , ” Places Journal , May 2018 . Accessed 23 Apr 2019 . https : / / doi . org / 10 . 22269 / 180522