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Letter: Quilt designs were promoted by Highway Department

Doug McCammish writes:
You or your mom may remember that there was a KY highway deparment (?) program 15-20 years ago that promoted the quilt design on barns along the highway. I suspect Sue Stivers told me about it, and we began noticing the number of barns in Adair and surrounding counties with quilt designs.

I think the farmer got some support for "hosting" the quilt, and the artist got some also.
Thanks for writing! The highway department definitely played an important part, but some barn owners may have been answering a higher cultural calling. As the late Ed Waggener commented back in 2008, "Mrs. Browning's daughter, Vicki Browning Pike, cannot abide uncouth cows. The artwork is to enrich their lives. After all, cows are people, too. If motorists along the parkway enjoy the art, that's a bonus. The quilt also has distlefinkian functions and brings good fortune, I'm sure."

After checking out Robert's photo, linked below, we also recommend searching the CM archives for more great photos of barn quilts.

Comments re: Scenic Adair Co.: Frosty Barn, ca 2016




This story was posted on 2026-01-02 14:01:10
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