Self-guided tour of barn quilts is launched in eastern Bradford County

BY JAMES LOEWENSTEIN (STAFF WRITER)
Published: May 2, 2010

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WYALUSING - If you live in the Wyalusing area, you may have noticed what looks like old-time, traditional quilts being hung from the exterior of businesses, barns and homes.

However, these objects are actually made out of wood, and the design on them has been painted, said Wendy Gaustad, executive director of the Greater Wyalusing Chamber of Commerce.

While they are made to look like quilts, they are intended to be displayed on the outside of buildings permanently, according to Gaustad and Sugar Run resident Peggy DeMartino, a craftsman who has spent many hours creating the objects, which are called "barn quilts."

"We believe they'll last at least 10 years before they'll need a touch-up," Gaustad said.

"They are stunning!" said Valeria J. Hill of Wyalusing, who makes cloth quilts and has mounted three of the barn quilts on her home and barn.

Last year, the chamber of commerce launched a project to install 100 barn quilts on the sides of buildings in Wyalusing area, including historic buildings, barns, homes and businesses, Gaustad said.

So far more than 40 barn quilts, which range in size from 4 square feet to 64 square feet, have been installed on buildings located in the Wyalusing School District, including the Wyalusing Valley Museum, the Homer Funeral Home, and the Grovedale Winery, Gaustad said. The chamber hopes to have the remaining barn quilts installed by the end of the year, DeMartino said.

"It's agri-tourism," said Gaustad, explaining the chamber of commerce's project. "The chamber was looking for a way to promote our area that would highlight our agricultural history. It's a big deal."

Visitors to the area will be able to pick up a brochure that will enable them to take a self-guided tour of the sites where the barn quilts have been installed, Gaustad said.

The brochure will list the addresses of many of the buildings with barn quilts on them, as well as a map showing how to find them, she said.

The brochure will also list a number that the visitor can call on his/her cell phone to hear information related to each site, she said.

The information might be about the history of the site; the family that lives in the building, if it is a house; the quilt design that was chosen for the site; or, if it was a business, something about the business, Gaustad said.

The number to hear the information about the sites is (570) 309-3346, and it is a local call, she said.

Each site has been assigned a unique number, ranging from 101 to 200, and the visitor enters the site's number in his cell phone to hear the information about the site. A plaque has been installed at each site on which the site's number has been printed.

The brochure will also list the GPS coordinates for each site, which will help visitors find the sites, DeMartino said.

The chamber of commerce hopes that the barn quilts and the tour of them will draw visitors to the area, Gaustad said.

DeMartino said she uses computer software, which contains thousands of quilt designs, to help her create the barn quilts.

She said that her husband other volunteers have also be working on creating the quilts for the chamber of commerce.

The barn quilts are made out of MDOS board, which is a type of plywood that has a smooth surface, Gaustad said.

Until the brochure becomes available, the chamber of commerce is making available a printed list of 44 of the sites where the barn quilts have already been installed, she said.

The list, which includes the addresses and GPS coordinates of the sites, is available at the chamber of commerce's office, which is located at 121 Main St. in Wyalusing.

History

Barn quilts first began to be made after an Ohio woman painted a mural of a quilt on the side of a barn in 2001 for her mother, who was a fifth-generation farmer, DeMartino said.

People who saw the mural wanted something similar for their own buildings and began to create barn quilts, she said.

Currently, there are many states where people take tours of barn quilts. The tour that has been set up by the Greater Wyalusing Chamber of Commerce is the first barn quilt tour in Pennsylvania, DeMartino said.

The brochures for the barn quilt tour will are expected to be available within the next two weeks, and they will be distributed statewide, Gaustad said. Locally, the brochures will be available at museums and wineries.

James Loewenstein can be reached at (570) 265-1633; or e-mail: jloewenstein@thedailyreview.com.

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