Quilt trail being blazed in Pocahontas County

Marlinton, W.Va. – Anyone who’s driven along Route 219 through Monroe County probably has noticed the brightly colored, intricately-painted placards on the sides of barns. The beautiful barn decorations are extra-large versions of quilt squares and soon, the traditional designs will adorn barns in Pocahontas County.

Linda Adams, with the Convention and Visitors Bureau, describes what’s happening.

“Well, the quilt trail, a lot of people don’t understand what it is,” she said. “I got interested, back several years ago, when there was an article in one of my quilt magazines. They started this up in Ohio and they paint pictures of quilts on barns and it’s really a big thing. People go on tours and they drive around, just to look at these quilts that are painted on barns. It’s really a unique thing.”

Adams says 12 county barns will be selected to become part of the quilt trail.

“We’re going to start with 12 quilt blocks and then, we’ll choose 12 different barns in Pocahontas County to paint these quilt squares on,” she said. “They’re going to be eight-by-eight or four-by-four. We’re commemorating the 150th year of the Civil War and also the birthday of West Virginia. So, they’re all going to be from that era. All the quilt blocks are going to be from that era.”

An atlas will be available for travelers on the quilt trail.

“You can pick up a brochure and it shows a picture of the quilt,” said Adams. “It gives you a little bit about the history of that particular block and where it’s located. And, what we’re hoping to do is pick 12 of them from Durbin to Hillsboro, so you can travel the whole county and you can see different quilt blocks on buildings and barns.”

The CVB is looking for applicants with barns or buildings.

“There’s going to be stuff on the radio and in The Pocahontas Times about how, if you want your barn to be one of the chosen ones, there’s an application for you to fill out and send in,” said Adams. “And we’re also trying to get – right now, we’re trying to get a grant, which will pay for these, because it is not cheap to do one of these. We’re going to have two in each voting district and then we’ll have what Cara [Rose] is calling, two wildcards. Right now, we want them to be on the main roads: 92, 28, 219 and 39.”

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be a barn. If you have a building that you’d like to have one on, it just needs to be seen from the main road, year-round.”

Adams hopes quilt trailblazers venture forth across West Virginia.

“We’re hoping, eventually, that it will kind of – there will be a whole trail for the whole state,” she said. “You know, it can go through Monroe County, into Pocahontas, on into Randolph or on into Virginia and you can see quilts along the way. It gives you something to look at, other than our beautiful mountains, as we’re traveling along the roads.”

To apply for your barn or building to become part of the quilt trail, contact the Pocahontas County CVB at 304-799-4636.