I took this photo of a barn quilt on The Local Store while driving around Ontario’s Prince Edward County with my sisters in 2016.
So what on earth is a barn quilt, you ask?
It’s a replica of a pieced quilt block, painted on a panel and attached to a building (often, but not always, a barn). The particular quilt square might have some sentimental meaning to the barn owners—if I had a barn, I’d put up a square in my grandmother’s favourite monkey wrench pattern—or they might just think it’s pretty.
Barn quilt trails have sprung up throughout North America as a way to celebrate local heritage and encourage people to explore an area. The first one emerged in Ohio in 2001, and there are now trails in dozens of states and several provinces.
I spotted this barn quilt on The Local Store outside Picton in Prince Edward County. As the name suggests, the shop sells all kinds of locally made products, such as pottery, paintings, maple syrup, jams and so on.
Prince Edward County’s Barn Quilt Trails include more than 100 decorated barns.
Throughout July and August 2017, I’ll be posting one photo a day that I’ve taken somewhere across Canada, in celebration of Canada’s 150th anniversary. Want to see more photos in this series? Type “Canada 150 photo” in the search window on the right-hand side of this page.
2 comments
isn’t the Local a fabulous store? we stopped in to shop there while in PEC this spring . I love seeing all the different quilts on the houses and barns throughout that whole township. we weren’t sure why they were there other than to pretty up the barns. thanks for the bit of history.
You’re welcome for the history–glad you enjoyed it! I love digging into all these small road trip mysteries. 🙂