Ohio's Barn Quilts-- Part 1

From the April 21-27 American Profile "Barn Quilts: Folk art movement covers the countryside" by Marti Attoun.

Donna Sue Groves and her mother, Maxine, bought a farm in Adams County, Ohio, in 1989 and came up with an idea of how to add some pizzaz to it and honor her mother by painting a quilt square on it. She remembered in her childhood watching her mother and grandmother sewing and socializing with friends over magnificent quilts.

In 2000, she expanded her folk art idea and, as an Ohio Arts Council employee, decided she could enlist local artists to paint them on barns throughout the county and this would also draw tourists.

The Adams Count Quilt Sampler Committe was set up and drew guidelines for the 8-foot-by-eight-foot painted wooden quilt squares. On October 2001, an "Ohio Star" quilt debuted at the Lewis Mountain Olde Thyme Herb Fair in Manchester, Ohio.

The squares caught on right away and soon barns all over the county had them and tourists began driving the back roads looking for them. "Donna Sue's gift to her mother had become a gift to rural America."

And, I Like to See Patterns on Local Wooden Barns. --RoadDog

Henry Ford Made America Smaller-- Part 2: The Model T

Henry Ford's Model T first hit America's roads in 1908. At the time, the country was primarily a rural society powered by horses and steam. In 1914 he built the first continuously moving automobile assembly line and now a Model T rolled off the line every 24 seconds. More than 15 million had been built when the last one came off in 1927.

His business methds and techniques still form the basis for many indistries to this day. In the 1930s, Kiichiro Toyoda came to the U.S. to study Ford's factories and processes. Of course, his company became Toyota.

Thanks a Lot, Henry. --RoadDog

Here's One of Those Old Two-Laners: White Pole Road

From the website. www.whitepoleroad.com.

The next time you're in Iowa, here's a diversion you can take featuring interesting sites and easy access to I-80 for those of you afraid to get too far off the interstate.

You go through the towns of Adair, Casep, Menlo, Stuart and Dexter between mile markers 76 and 100.  Just follow the painted white poles.

In 1910, it was referred to as "The Great White Way."

I'll be writing some more about it.

No More "Gumbo State."  --RoadDog