Some of the barn quilt designs look just like squares from old quilts. Others have images that represent the farm and the farmers like a bunch of cherries or the Finnish flag. They look right at home in their rural setting.
A New Tradition
You might think that having colorful quilt squares on the sides of barns is an old tradition. But the idea dates back only about 10 years. It started in Southern Ohio by a woman who was looking for a way to honor her mother and to help dress up old black, creosote-covered tobacco barns. Evelyn Johnson established the barn quilt trail on Old Mission Peninsula near Traverse City. She went to Ohio to see those first barn quilts.
Evelyn says, "We spent three days down there and just saw so many that my husband finally cried 'uncle' and we came home (laughs)."
Evelyn is a historian. She wrote the book, "Barns of Old Mission Peninsula and Their Stories." There are 14 barn quilts on the Quilt Barn Trail on Old Mission Peninsula.
Shirley Miller
One belongs to Shirley Miller. Driving about half-way up the peninsula you can see Shirley's barn from the road. Her parents bought the farm in 1937.
Shirley says, "So, it's been in the family since then and there was only one owner before us and that was an Obie Benson and so the house and the barn both are 100 years old."
Shirley's barn quilt looks like a standard quilt pattern with red, yellow and two shades of blue. She says her barn quilts get an awful lot of attention. She figures that's because hers is the only barn right now on one of the peninsula's main roads.
Shirley says, "I have many people. I have maybe up to sometimes 20 different people that stop here a day and want to take a picture."
Osceola County's Barn Quilt Trail
Osceola County also has a barn quilt trail. Osceola is a very rural county south of Cadillac. There are 68 barn quilts there. Elsie Vredenburg started the Osceola trail. She first saw barn quilts in Kentucky. She says that it took some education to convince people here in Northern Michigan to start putting up these squares.
Elsie says, "They kind of gave us blank looks when we started: 'What on earth is this?' We had to do a little selling. But now they are more coming to us."
Elsie is a professional quilter with a shop - Quilts by Elsie in Tustin. She helps families design their quilt squares. Often, they'll get their design from an old quilt. But some families don't happen to have one.
The Osceola Barn Quilt Trail has quilt designs on post offices, township halls and other public buildings.
The Osceola Barn Quilt Trail web page is here.
The Old Mission Barn Quilt Trail is here.