Quilt trail


A quilt trail is a series of painted wood or metal hung or freestanding quilt squares installed along a route emphasizing significant architecture and/or aesthetic landscapes. Currently North America has quilt trails in 43 of the United States and three in Canada.

History

The first official quilt trail was begun in 2001 in Adams County, Ohio. Donna Sue Groves wanted to honor her mother, Maxine, a noted quilter, with a painted quilt square on the family's barn in Manchester, Ohio. Though many believe that the Groves farm is home to the first barn quilt, the first was an Ohio Star created as part of a community celebration at a nearby herb farm. The Groves farm later became part of a trail of 20 barn quilts that formed a driving trail throughout Adams County. An emerging concept, a U.S. national quilt trail that first spread across Ohio now includes barn quilts in Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin. In Canada, British Columbia has developed a trail. Barn quilts also exist in Ontario and Kings County, New Brunswick.
The Vermont Quilt Trail, which includes nearly 50 barn quilts, was begun by quilters in Franklin County and aims to cover the state, concentrating around Scenic Route 100.

North American quilt trails

There are quilt trails in over half of the states in the United States now.

Alabama

The Alabama Barn Quilt Trail in Lauderdale County plans to expand across the entire state. A map can be found here:

North Carolina

North Carolina has barn quilt trails in many counties, some formally organized and mapped and others in the development stage at a local level, including in Western Rowan County. On July 8, 2019 residents of Mount Ulla installed the largest community barn quilt in the United States on the wall of a local store, West Rowan Farm, Home & Garden. The Mount Ulla Community Barn Quilt measures 500 square feet, twenty square feet larger than the previous title holder, a community barn quilt in Ashland, Kansas.

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Community Partnerships RC & D is currently in the planning stages of a series of quilt trails, including a railroad quilt trail running from Lewistown to Harrisburg.

Tennessee

Appalachian Resource Conservation & Development maintains the online for the six-county region of Northeast Tennessee.