Genesis of a Dream
~ an imaginary Clothesline ~
Growing up in West Virginia, Donna Sue Groves’ family would play a simple car game counting advertising signs such as Chew Mail Pouch, See Rock City, Seven Caves, Natural Bridge, Drink RC Cola painted on the various bank, tobacco, round, crib, dairy barns as one way to pass the long hours riding in the car. Her family used barn watching as an opportunity for family discussions and as a history lesson.
In 1989, Donna Sue and her mother purchased a farm in Adams County, Ohio. On the farm was a tobacco barn. The barn was plain and not of remarkable architecture. Donna Sue believed that it needed color, something to brighten it up. She thought a large quilt square would be exciting and promised her mother that someday she would paint a quilt square on it for her. As the years passed she kept thinking about her tobacco barn, a quilt square and her promise to her mother.
For more than twenty years, Donna Sue has worked with non-profit organizations and artists nurturing community development through the arts. She has experienced firsthand the power of public murals to foster community pride, to serve as catalysts for economic development as tourism destinations and to illustrate community history and culture. However, not all rural communities have floodwalls or wall space to paint something as large as a mural. As she traveled throughout the Ohio River Valley, looking at those empty barn walls she kept thinking and talking about her promise to her mother.
In 2001, Pete Whan with The Nature Conservancy – Edge of Appalachia offered to help paint a quilt square for her mother. Donna Sue suggested that if they were going to paint one square why not consider painting more. She believed that the squares would offer an opportunity to develop a driving trail to entice tourists to visit Adams County which would foster economic opportunities for local businesses and artists.
Although the concept was simplistic Donna Sue knew that barns and quilts reinforced the best of the region – the farming and quilting heritage. It utilized local assets, was a low cost project and engaged community folks in the process of planning and implementation. Pete agreed and a grassroots Adams County, Ohio committee was organized.
The Adams County Quilt Barn project was designed and implemented entirely by volunteers. The committee encouraged the involvement and participation of other community members in the process. Funding was received from The Nature Conservancy, the Ohio Arts Council, Adams County Chamber of Commerce, Foundation for Appalachian Ohio, General Motors, local businesses and Adams County residents.
On October 13, 2001 during the Lewis Mountain Olde Thyme Herb Fair the first quilt square, an Ohio Star, created by Mark Lewis and Bill Brown was unveiled. The Adams County Sampler project was officially dedicated to honor Donna Sue's mother Nina Maxine Groves, a fifth generation quilter from Roane County, West Virginia and their Appalachian mountain heritage.
Not until the summer of 2003 did Maxine's quilt square became a reality. Donna Sue commissioned Geoff Schenkel, Marietta, Ohio to create and paint the Snail's Trail pattern for her mother.
Almost overnight the word spread to neighboring communities, counties and other states about the Quilt Barn project. Other communities asked if they could participate. Donna Sue enthusiastically said yes and offered her support and expertise. She only asked that each new community remember the genesis of the project - and that they in turn would share it with other communities.
Donna Sue’s early vision was to create an imaginary clothesline of interconnecting barns decorated with quilt squares across Ohio and the nation thus creating a National Quilt Trail.
And so it has happened -
Although an emerging concept, the National Quilt Trail (or as some call it – The Clothesline of Quilts) has rapidly spread across Ohio to Iowa, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Texas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Colorado, South Dakota, Georgia and Pennsylvania. British Columbia also has developed a trail.
It is estimated that over 1500 colorful quilt squares now adorn barns, flood walls and community structures across the United States along with hundreds of developed trails for tourists and community members to drive and enjoy.
For more information contact:
Donna Sue Groves
P.O. Box 30
West Union, Ohio 45693