Jean Cline has lived in Rowan County all her life. She is a retired Home Economics teacher. She taught at Rowan County High School for over 30 years.  She has always been active in local civic and political activities. She loves the foothills of the Appalachian mountains and respects the culture and values of this family oriented community. The heritage of Appalachian people and their quilts is especially important to her.  So when she learned that Tony Barrett at RF&D of the Department of Agriculture in Grayson, KY was holding a multi-county meeting concerning a Quilt Square Barns project , she decided to get involved. The rest is history. Others volunteered and became involved in the Foothills Quilt Trail.  Some of those original members were life-long Morehead/Rowan Countians and others were from outside the area.  All were concerned that the heritage of the quilts be preserved. 

Although the concept was simplistic, Jean and the others felt that the quilt barn project reinforced the best of our region - our farming and quilting heritage. It would utilize local assets and engage community folks in the process of planning and implementation. Carita Bergeron, Bet Ison, Carmelita Evans, Betty Sharp and Mary Wallace agreed and a grassroots committee was organized. Officers were elected in September of 2004. 

The Rowan County/Kentucky Foothills Quilt Barn project was designed and implemented entirely by volunteers. The committee worked hard to encourage the involvement and participation of other community members in the process of creating public art. The first quilt square was hung on Wilkinson Blvd. on the Physical Utilities Plant building on Morehead State University (MSU). It is telling that the first square was sponsored by MSU whose commitment  to its' service region is legendary.   The Maple Leaf Square was hung on Thursday, Oct. 13th, 2004(?) with Clyde Thomas, County Executive and Dr. Wayne Andrews, CEO of Morehead State University in attendance. The Maple Leaf Square, along with the Delectable Mountain Square were designated as the official Rowan County Quilt patterns soon afterward. 

Many people have contributed to the success of the Rowan County Kentucky Foothills Quilt Square Project but several organizations must be specially noted.  They have continuously and generously given of their time and facilities and support. The Morehead News has allowed the painting team to use their printing room for construction and painting of the squares. Volunteer painters come and go during business hours to finish the squares. Interestingly enough, it is the men who work there who comment most about the quilt patterns. They talk about their mothers or grandmothers or great grandmothers who did quilts and used some of the patterns being painted on the panels. Another organization to be honored is the Grayson Rural Electric Cooperative. Volunteers from Grayson REC generously use their skill and expertise to hang the frames and 8'x8' squares on area barns. Of course, we can't forget Jack and Leo Williams and Dewayne Catron, local folk who volunteer to hang the panels. Generous supporters also include SEKTDA (Southern and Eastern Kentucky Tourism Development Association) without those support the project would have faltered, and the Morehead Tourism Commission who donates space for meetings at the Morehead Conference Center. 

Ohioan Donna Sue Grove, who was the person who started the original Barn Quilt Trail Project. She had an early vision  to create an imaginary clothesline of interconnecting barns decorated with quilt squares across Ohio and the nation thus creating a National Quilt Barn Trail.

And so it has happened -

A National Quilt Trail is rapidly spreading across Ohio to Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Iowa, and North Carolina and beyond. Over 400 colorful quilt squares adorn barns, flood walls and other significant community structures. All projects are similar but they are shaped by each community’s own values, vision, heritage and cultural strengths. Each grass roots community project captures the spirit of place using ‘art’ for community celebration and economic development.

Growing up in West Virginia, Donna Sue Groves and her family would play a simple game of counting the barn advertising signs, such as Chew Mail Pouch, See Rock City, Seven Caves, Natural Bridge and Drink R C Cola on long road trips. They would use the different styles of barns such as Bank, Round, Crib, Tobacco as part of the automobile game. During vacations, she delighted in watching for the colorful geometric Hex signs scattered throughout Pennsylvania. Her family used barn watching as an opportunity for family discussions, a way to pass the long hours riding in the car, and as a history lesson.

In 1989 she and her mother purchased a farm in Adams County, Ohio. On the farm was a tobacco barn. Donna Sue promised her mother that someday she would paint a quilt square on it for her. As the years passed she kept thinking about her tobacco barn and the quilt square that she had promised to paint.

For the past ten years Donna Sue has nurtured community development through the arts by serving as a Field Representative for the Ohio Arts Council. She has experienced first hand the power of public murals to produce social value, foster community pride, serve as catalysts for economic development as a tourism destination, and to support community self expression. However, not all rural communities have a floodwall or the existing wall space to paint something as large as a mural. As she traveled throughout the Ohio River Valley, she looked at those empty barn walls as an opportunity to create public art and she kept talking about her promise to her mother.

In 2001, Pete When with The Nature Conservancy offered to help paint a quilt square for her mother. Donna Sue suggested that if they were going to paint one square why not consider painting more. She suggested that they could use the squares as an opportunity to develop a driving trail to entice tourists to visit Adams County. She believed that this trail would stimulate economic opportunities for local businesses and artists. 

Although the concept was simplistic Donna Sue felt that it reinforced the best of our region - our farming and quilting heritage. It would utilize local assets and engage community folks in the process of planning and implementation. Pete agreed and a grassroots committee was quickly organized.

The Adams County Quilt Barn project was designed and implemented entirely by volunteers. The committee worked hard to encourage the involvement and participation of other community members in the process of creating public art. On October 13, 2001 during the Lewis Mountain Olde Thyme Herb Fair the first quilt square, an Ohio Star created by Mark Lewis and Bill Brown was unveiled.

The Adams County Quilt Barn Sampler project was officially dedicated to honor Donna Sue's mother Nina Maxine Groves, a fifth generation quilter from Roane County, West Virginia. In the summer of 2003 Maxine's quilt square finally became a reality. It is the Snail's Trail pattern designed and painted by Geoff Schenkel, Marietta, Ohio.

Donna Sue’s early vision was to create an imaginary clothesline of interconnecting barns decorated with quilt squares across Ohio and the nation thus creating a National Quilt Barn Trail.

And so it has happened -

A National Quilt Trail is rapidly spreading across Ohio to Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Iowa, and North Carolina and beyond. Over 400 colorful quilt squares adorn barns, flood walls and other significant community structures. All projects are similar but they are shaped by each community’s own values, vision, heritage and cultural strengths. Each grass roots community project captures the spirit of place using ‘art’ for community celebration and economic development.