FOUR THINGS ABOUT A CHAIR WITH A STORY

1 MYSTERIOUS RELIC

A Halifax-area woman says the concreteand-metal chair that has sat on her family’s waterfront property for decades may contain a piece of history. Katy Jean says the medieval-looking seat has a backrest made from an anchor flung there by the 1917 Halifax Explosion, when the munitions ship SS Mont-Blanc exploded after colliding with the SS Imo in Halifax harbour, killing about 2,000 people. “A piece of anchor — the fluke — blew into the air and into the yard,” she said.

2 THE REAL THING?

Jean said her relatives bought the property on the Dartmouth waterfront in the 1940s and learned the previous owners had made the chair with the large piece of anchor. Barbara Lounder, who has researched Halifax Explosion debris, said: “I believe very strongly it could be (from the explosion) … it fits in with other fragments that were found not too far from there.” But she adds they haven’t studied the artifact metallurgically, and don’t know which anchor it could be.

3 FATE UNKNOWN

Jean said she became concerned over the weekend after driving to the site with her father and finding the chair almost hidden in a stand of trees. Her great uncle recently sold the property to developer Rob Steele, and she feared it might be demolished along with a cottage. “I thought, ’Oh my God, the chair is gone! That’s kind of what inspired me to try to save the chair.”

4 HAPPY ENDING

Jean took to Twitter Tuesday to say she was “so happy. I made contact with the land owner (Rob Steele) and he is extremely on board with the preservation, protection and care for the chair! The chair will not move! The surrounding area will be landscaped, with the property potentially becoming a park.” Jean will approach Mayor Mike Savage about a commemorative plaque.