Where the Trail Began

By: Peyton Ruud

Driving down old winding backroads, many things catch the eye. The 1,000-pound Angus cows munching on fresh grass. The rust-covered barns around each narrow turn. The curbside stands, or even the old dog sunbathing in the middle of an abandoned street.

As Regina Painter makes her way to her next travel nurse location, she finds herself on many of these backroads across Alabama. Painter said, “You see things you don’t see when you are on the interstate.” Painter has traveled countless country roads in Kentucky, Tennessee and more for ten years.

Painter loves making quilts. During one of her stays in Tennessee, she decided to go to a quilt workshop. In many of these workshops, you are creating squares of fabric to piece together. When they all come together it makes one big quilt, or block.

Along her way, she passed a few quilt blocks painted on barns. She found it interesting and looked more into this. She learned that the first block was put up in Ohio in 2001. From Ohio to Tennessee to Kentucky, the trend is expanding more and more as the years go on.

She questioned why her home state of Alabama did not have something similar to brighten up these overlooked backroads and small towns around the state.

In 2015, she founded the Alabama Barn Quilt Trail, with the first block being put up in December. Beginning in northern Alabama, these colorful patches slowly started expanding.

Within six months, there were around four to five blocks. By 2019, they had 50 blocks, and today they have grown to 147 blocks around the state. “I love providing an avenue for people to come to Alabama and see those blocks,” said Painter.

While there are many buildings now adorned with colorful quilt patches, the one that holds a special place in Painter’s heart is in Limestone County. Her great grandfather built the old log cabin. In 2018, on her mother’s 80th birthday, they placed a block on the old building.

The block was inspired by the pattern found in her grandmother’s flower garden. The design is full of pink, blue, green and any color imaginable to create many flowers. “Because of the personal connection there, it is truly one of my favorites,” said Painter.

Painter gives most of the credit to the committee and volunteers who have made this dream a reality. Volunteers come together with the committee to help get new blocks ready. When creating new blocks, they get a workshop set up so that they can get as many done as they can.

Dale and Lisa Robinson, Janice Davis, and Painter are on the committee. Painter especially gives credit to Dale because of how much work he has put into expanding the trail as much as he can. “Dale is the workhorse behind it,” Painter said.

Painter said her goal is to expand the trail to at least one block in every county. Robinson, involved with the Barn Quilt Trail for around three years, said he is committed to seeing that dream become a reality.

He became involved because of an article he saw and never looked back. He loves helping and creating the drawing for each block. He said the trail is important to him because he loves the idea and the sense of community it brings.

The Alabama Barn Quilt Trail is so much more than just paintings on the side of barns. The movement hopes to attract new people, brighten up rural roadways and help preserve historic buildings, especially barns.