For generations, the making of quilts has brought people together. In small towns and rural areas, neighbors joined together during harvest, barn building and quilt making. Quilting bees would yield several warm quilts in a day and also provide a welcomed social outlet for women of all ages.
Today, the quilting tradition stitches together a rich fabric of destinations for visitors across the Texas landscape.
TRUE COLORS Rustic barns and other structures throughout Fannin County preserve folk tradition through quilt-square designs.
Terry County, situated in the heart of the cotton-producing West Texas plains, established the state’s first quilt trail in 2003. Inspired by Ohioan Donna Sue Groves’s project to embellish the sides of barns with brightly painted quilt square designs, the Cotton Quilters’ Guild of Brownfield created seven-foot panels to mount on local businesses. “We thought it would be great to have a quilt block in different places, how neat that would be,” says guild member Betty Charlebois. “It would promote quilting and get younger people interested in it.” Another member, Mary Collier, created a brochure and map describing the history of each square’s locale, from the gin to the museum to the railroad and more.
SQUARE ONE Brownfield’s Centennial Park is a great place to start the hunt for colorful quilt squares in Terry County.
These days, visitors can pick up a brochure at the Brownfield Chamber of Commerce or the Terry County Historical Museum. The entire tour of 10 quilt squares can be done within an hour (most sites are within a square mile of the city center), but the historic destinations and colorful squares each invite visitors to linger longer.
In Fannin County in northeast Texas, travelers can spend a day or more enjoying Texas’ largest quilt trail, established in 2012. Squares – more than 100 and counting — can be found throughout the countryside and in the historic downtowns of Bonham and Honey Grove. Along a sweeping, scenic route that encompasses the Caddo National/LBJ National Grasslands, the Sam Rayburn House Museum, and Bonham State Park, visitors can spot the bright squares with the aid of a downloadable map.
Just as enterprising pioneers once pieced together small scraps to create a new object of utility and beauty, Texas’ quilt trails link varied and vibrant places on the map to celebrate a living folk tradition.
