Google defines patchwork as “a thing composed of many different elements so as to appear variegated” and defines variegated as “exhibiting different colors, especially as irregular patches or streaks.”
Each year the Chapters of Missouri State Women On Wheels® participate in an annual touring/photo contest to discover new roads and destinations while looking for objects in a theme:
- 2016: Missouri State Parks
- 2017: Missouri Historic Sites
- 2018: Famous Missourians
- 2019: Military Monuments
- 2020: Barn Quilts
To me, the interesting thing about the 2020 contest is that the themed objects and roads to find them are both a patchwork of sorts.
This Google Maps patchwork through the farm land that borders both sides of the Mississippi River will take you over a bridge in Louisiana, Missouri, around Calhoun County, Illinois, and back home to Missouri via ferry where I found these (and many other) barn quilts:
On this route (or a small variation of it), I found my first barn quilts. It wasn’t long before I was hooked. Let’s be honest. To find these quilts, you have to ride to where the barns are. Most of the the barns are on scenic, two-lane back roads–the roads I prefer to ride.
As a farmer’s daughter, I have always been intrigued by the architecture of these old barns. Imagine the history they most hold; what stories they might tell.
Yes, the barns are still beautiful, but these days a couple hundred miles of riding without the discovery of a random barn quilt or the purposeful navigation of one of the many quilt trails in America, brings a sense of mild disappointment when the perfect spot to mount some beautiful patchwork remains empty.
For those with an interest in barns: https://www.almanac.com/extra/evolution-american-barn
For those interested in the history of barn quilts: https://www.wideopencountry.com/ever-see-a-quilt-pattern-on-a-barn-heres-where-the-tradition-came-from/
Information on Missouri Barn Quilt Trails: https://www.boonslicktourism.org/barn-quilts
Information on Illinois Barn Quilt Trails: http://greatriverscountry.com/documents/IllinoisBarnQuiltHistory.pdf
By Cris
Heartland Chapter of Women On Wheels® 