I drove through Washington County, Iowa the other day. One of their new tourist attractions is barn quilts. People paint a big quilt block, and then put it on their barn. As far as rural county tourism ideas go, I'd have to say this one is better than most. It's not the covered bridges of Madison County, but maybe if somebody writes a book and Clint Eastwood does a movie...
Here are three of them.
My dad claims that quilting is a disease. Barn quilts might just give him more evidence that this is true.
2 comments:
Hmmm, reminds me of something I barely remember about round signs like this on barns in Michigan when I was a kid. I think they were called "hex" signs, but I could be wrong. Pretty sure they were connected with some ethnic group.
Anyway, they do add some color and interesting contrast to the barns.
Those of us who are "diseased" have been hearing about these barn quilts for a while, but I've never actually seen them. Thanks for sharing! I agree it's a not-totally-tacky touristy thing to do. You could turn it into a fun driving game for kids if you learned the names and history behind the depicted blocks. Or would that just be fun for kids who are as nerdy as I am? Never mind. America's youth has enough problems.
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