In the beginning of August we traveled to Buffalo, New York for the annual family reunion. We were then going to go the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to visit friends. This time to go to Michigan we decided to drive though the lower part of Ontario, Canada. Low and behold I found out there were several Barn Quilt Trails. We had stayed the night in Hamilton, and Oxford County was on the way toward Port Huron the next morning.
This trail had 20 barn quilts.
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| This is the first barn quilt we encountered. They do things a tad different. We had not expected to see a freestanding barn quilt. This one is Wagon Tracks and was on the Innes Farm, in Oxford Centre |
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| This was a freebie. It is not listed as part of the trail. It was pretty. |
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| Here is Farmer's Daughter on the Kelner Farm in Curries. |
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| Even the road signs look like quilt blocks! |
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| Dutchman's Puzzle was on the Couwenholm Farms in Burgessville, and was a huge apple orchard. |
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| Friendship Block was in Norwich. |
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| Did not realize there were actually signatures on this block. |
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| Here is Wagon Wheel on the Norwich Museum/Historical Society. Another free standing sign. |
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| This was on the side of a building in Norwich. |
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| Even on of the houses in the country had a small quilt block on the porch area. |
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| Corn and Beans was on the Corwic Farms/Cornwell family. It actually was on the barn between two families. |
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| Tobacco Road on the Van Torre Farm, Norwich. This is a real tobacco drying barn. We were also about to see our firsts tobacco fields. |
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| How about that, tobacco plants! |
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| We also saw ginseng growing for the first time ever. It takes 4 years to grown, and another 4 years for the fields to gain nutrients back. It is also grown under a black netting, to keep it from getting burnt by the sun. |
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| Quite an apple orchard. Oxford county is known for all the different crops grown. |
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| Weathervan was in Otterville. |
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| Here is Ron at the doorstep of the restaurant were we had lunch. It was very good, and a popular place. |
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| Here is were the Grist Mill block was to be, only we could not find it. The scenery was very pretty, this was in Otterville. |
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| Church Window was at the African Methodist Episcopal Cemetery. This area became a terminus for fugitives traveling the Underground Railroad. |
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| It was very interesting. There were small candle plaques around the area that represented known graves, |
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| Here we have the Envelop Motif on the Canadian Biofuel building in Springford. |
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| Churn Dash is on the Leeholm Farms in Springfield. |
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| 9 Patch Log Cabin was on The Annandale National Historic Site in Tillsonburg. We had to go looking for this one, it was on the back of the building. |
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| New Water Wheel is on the Mill Tales Inn, in Tillsonburg. |
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| This one is neat, Roads to the Station on the train car at the Station Arts Centre in Tillsonburg. |
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| Arrowhead Puzzle is on The Stubbe's Furniture Barn in Tillsonburg. |
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| Love the colors in this one, Cross in a Cross at the Delmer United Church in Delmer. There is actually this barn behind the church. The church sits on a corner in the town. |
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| Cock's Comb is on this barn in Brownsville. |
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| Path through the Woods is on the Bowman family barn in Verschoyle. |
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Last but not lest is the Right Hand of Friendship on the Van Manens dairy farm in Ingersoll. It was a beautiful trail. The blocks were not as large as the ones we see most times, but just as impressive. This area is rich in history with settlers that are Quakers, free black and escaped slaves, British, Scottish, German and Dutch. Crops from tobacco, corn, apples, ginseng and peanuts and of course cheese from the dairy farms is still produced here. There is plenty of reason to explore the county back roads.
There are Barn Quilt trails in Elgin, Oxford, Norfolk, Middlesex and Brant counties.
I hope you enjoyed our little tour. |
