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Southern Quilt Trail Expands
August 10, 2010
The Southern Quilt Trail promotes the heritage of quilt patterns by displaying this unique art form on historical barns and buildings in our communities and rural countrysides.
The latest edition to the Southern Quilt Trail is ready for viewing and you’re invited. The recent addition to the home of Jamie and Bill Bennett at 805 Coppermine Road, outside of Buchanan joins dozens of others across West Georgia adorning barns and historic buildings along a path of country roads and city streets.
In all, the Southern Quilt Trail has approximatly 25 hand painted quilts in various locations in Haralson, Carroll and Paulding Counties. Powder Springs has 11 quilt squares displayed on downtown buildings. In Buchanan, visit the one-room schoolhouse beside the Commissioner’s office or tour 805 Coppermine Road outside of Buchanan, in Bremen take a look at the old Ace Hardware building, Bremen City Hall, Sewell Mill Artison Market , Porter House Antiques and in Tallapoosa on the Tallapoosa Electronics building. Additional quilt squares can be found on City Hall and Gold’s Gym in Bowdon, Bell’s Store in Roopville and on Main Street Antiques in Hiram.
Gail Priest, Tourism Coordinator for the Haralson County Chamber of Commerce, said the goal of the Southern Quilt Trail is to attract visitors to our area in an effort to showcase West Georgia.
“The trail will bring people from all areas to each of our communities for a look at history. It is probable that they will spend money, either on hotels, meals or trinkets of the area. Tourism is Economic Development for the county,” she said.
Organizers of Georgia’s Southern Quilt Trail began the program to showcase old barns and structures in their towns, as well as to share the folk art that has been left behind by past generations. However, the overall mission is to get people off the main highways and into the rural areas and the small, often forgotten towns to enjoy the countryside that the inhabitants of those towns enjoy so much. Eventually maps of the entire trail will be available in each participating town, as well as at the Georgia Welcome Centers.
The Southern Quilt Trail includes all types of designs, from the highly detailed to the simple, from those that form a picture to others that are a conglomeration of geometric shapes and appliqued patterns.
The original quilt trail began in 2001 in Adams County, Ohio, when a woman named Donna Sue Groves painted a quilt on her barn in honor of her mother, Maxine, who was a master quilter, and also to honor the heritage of quilting. Other counties in Ohio, as well as counties in East Tennessee are part of the Appalachian Quilt Trail. Iowa has its own quilt trail called “The Barn Quilt Project,” and Kentucky, Virginia and North Carolina also have recently started their own quilt trails.
To participate in the Southern Quilt Trail, a property owner must have a building or barn that has historical significance and is at least 50 years old.
For more information, contact the Southern Quilt Trail coordinator for Haralson County at 770-630-8946.
Jamie Bennett and Gail Priest
