Blue Ridge Country - November/December 2016 - 45

JOE TENNIS

Suzi Parron's book "Following the Barn Quilt Trail" includes stops
in many states as well as Canada. Parron's adventure covered
13,000 miles from coast to coast and across Ontario, Canada. The
book is both a collection of quilt trail stories and photos, and a
memoir of life on the road. 265 pages, 136 color photos. It is Parron's second book on the topic.
A quilt square is on display at McPail's Barn in Oconee County, South Carolina.

historic sites. And we're in a lot of
state parks. A lot of the people who
come into our area are people who
are interested in viewing historic
sites. Sometimes, they are quilters-
sometimes not. Most of the time,
they have some familiarity with
quilts."
Why follow the Upstate Heritage
Quilt Trail?
"It's just to see what they can
find. I think people like treasure
hunts," File says. "We do have some
who want to see as many quilts as
they can. But I would say most of
our people are going and visiting
the different destination sites where
the quilts are. They can often get
out and visit a museum - and see the
historic quilt on display."
In the mountains of Kentucky, Parron
traveled to see many barns painted
black. And, there, she would find
the quilt squares hanging much like
paintings in a gallery-with black
backgrounds. "It's like that same
feel," Parron says. "It's almost like,

'I'm going to an art gallery-except
I'm driving through all these hills
and up and down.'"
But that's OK. "Kentucky is kind
of like more of a treasure hunt," Parron says, "because you've got more
mountainous and hilly where the
barn quilts are. It was really more
of a challenge to find some, but
that was just great fun-of zigging
and zagging-and trying to find my
way."
Parron found some great barn
quilt squares at Berea, in Madison
County. "There's a really rich history of crafts and art and artisans,"
she says, "so the quilt trail kind of
worked around all of that."
Next, she ventured into Tennessee.
"Oh, Lord, have mercy," she
says. "You can't swing a cat without
hitting a barn quilt in Tennessee.
It's mostly the eastern part of the
state, but they've got hundreds of
them."
The author was most impressed
in how the barn quilts have been

"kind of grouped all together so
they're kind of pulled all together."
Like other locations, Tennessee's
barn quilts honor history and heritage.
"The neat thing about Tennessee
is they have so many of these historic quilts that they have brought
out," Parron says. "So, say, a family has this wonderful, 100-year-old
farm. Well, they find quilts that
were made on this actual property.
And they used that as the model for
their barn quilt. You see that every
now and then. But, in Tennessee,
that's a constant. That's just what
they do. It's really all about showing off those quilts and making
people aware of that quilting history."
And being proud.
"It's that pride of 'Hey, this
came from my family. This farm
is historic, and this quilt is part of
our history,'" Parron says. "And it's
just that opportunity for people to
celebrate that and to be proud of
their heritage." F
November/December 2016 45

Blue Ridge Country - November/December 2016

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