Porch swing cushions for West Virginia porches and mountain cabins

First in the nation for swings, and the porches to prove it

Five years of search data put West Virginia first in the country for porch swing cushions, at 85 on the index. Kentucky comes second at 57, and it isn't close. In the census division that takes in West Virginia, 74% of new homes started in 2024 had a porch. The old ones had them first.

The houses were built for sitting out. Hillside homes with the porch facing the road. Coal towns, an estimated 465 of them by 1930, with rows of simple three- and four-room houses, often painted one color from end to end of town. Farmhouses with a long porch and a swing at one end. And now the cabins: near the New River Gorge, a national park since December 2020, and up the mountain toward Snowshoe.

Rockers have their own story on our Tennessee and Kentucky page, and Kentucky has its swing beds. This page is for the West Virginia swing.

Damp hollows, snowy ridges

Down in the Kanawha Valley, Charleston gets 46.24 in (117 cm) of precipitation over 150 wet days a year, and August and September mornings average 92% humidity. Clear days are scarce, about 65 a year, yet summer still brings 22 days at 90°F (32°C) or above.

Climb, and it changes. Beckley, near the Gorge, gets 55.9 in (142 cm) of snow and 110 freezing nights. Elkins gets 68.9 in (175 cm) and 139. The summit at Snowshoe, 4,848 ft up, averages about 180 in (457 cm) of snow a winter.

So damp is the daily enemy and cold is the seasonal one. Outdoor fabric sheds a shower, but water finds the seams, and standard foam takes 24 to 48 hours to dry with air moving around it. That is the same window the EPA gives before mold is likely.

The rust velvet swing in our photo sits under a deep beadboard roof, which is the only place velvet belongs outside. In a hollow where August mornings sit at 92%, I'd still sew that swing in outdoor fabric.

Size the swing, then tie it down

Measure a swing inside the arms, not by the length on the box. One swing maker's own pads for its 4 ft and 5 ft swings are about 45 and 55 in (114 and 140 cm) long; a roomy custom 5 ft seat can reach 58 to 60 in (147 to 152 cm). Seats run 18 to 24 in (46 to 61 cm) deep, 3 to 4 in (7.5 to 10 cm) thick for everyday sitting. Order the back as its own piece and make sure the chains clear it at both ends. The porch swing sizes pattern has the 4, 5 and 6 ft numbers, and the porch swing hub has the styles.

Now the ties, neighbor. They are never standard. If you don't ask in writing, you won't get them. Two on the back edge tie to the rail; four at the corners knot under the slats. Say where each one goes, measured from a named end, and check the photo before it ships. The tie placement guide marks the spots.

Kitchen chairs get the same treatment. A buyer in the US had four vintage ladder-back chairs and sent a diagram. The numbers didn't add up until they measured both side edges: about 11 in (28 cm) each, with 13 and 14 in (33 and 36 cm) across the front and back. Four-inch pads, ties at the back, covers that zip off. Old chairs are rarely square. For a rocker, trace a paper template.