109 West Depot Street
109 W. Depot St, Greeneville 37743Greene County
On Barbara Evans’ building, Evans Jewelers and Gallery. Imogene Bible Cobble was a beloved seamstress who worked downtown for many businesses for 35 years, praised for her craft and creativity. She made the Twinkling Tulips quilt but did not finish it–it was her final project she undertook before she died. The quilt was later finished by another seamstress, Judy Flint (who actually purchased Cobble’s home after her death), at the request of Lynne Cobble Hope, Imogene’s grand-daughter. Full story at:
Pattern: Twinkling Tulips
Artist: Amy Saxonmeyer and the Hope Family
American Road Antiques
6125 E Andrew Johnson Hwy (11E), Afton 37616Greene County
The builder of the barn was C.T. Rankin, who worked at the Biltmore Estate, Asheville NC, in the late 1800s under landscape architect F.L. Olmsted.
Pattern: Lemoyne Star of Tennessee
Asbury Methodist Church
201 S. Main St, Greeneville 37745Greene County
Located on the back of the building, visible from S. College Street.
The family of Mary Britton Hope is dedicating the “In the Garden” 8-foot by 8-foot square in memory of their grandmother Mary Ann Foshee Britton, who designed and created the early 1900s heirloom that the block represents. Asbury Church has been the meeting place of the Brittons and their descendants for several generations. Methodism or the Methodist Movement in Greeneville dates back to the 1790s. In the mid-1900s after having her 6 children, Mary Ann Britton had a vision or dream in which she said that God told her to make a quilt representing Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden. She accepted the challenge and designed and created the quilt using old cotton feed sacks. Only this time, with this quilt, no ladies in the community came to help. Those same quilting frames were hoisted up and down for as long as it took for Ma Britton to compete every stitch herself. The full story is at:
Pattern: In The Garden
Artist: Amy Saxonmeyer
Baskette Farm
18525 Horton Hwy Fall Branch TN 37659Greene County
The quilt square on this Century Farm is a variation of the pattern Mill and Stars. The quilt is owned by Norma Baskette Davick, aunt of the current owner of the farm, Bill Baskette. It was pieced by Norma’s mother and Bill’s grandmother, Nell Taylor Baskette. The Baskette Farm is located in Fall Branch, in a community once known as Cave Springs. The farm has remained in the Baskette name as far back as 1841, although for unknown reasons the name has evolved over the years, originally Basket, then Baskett, now Baskette. William and Mary Mullennix Basket were the original owners. Sixth and seventh generations now live on the farm. The barn was built in 1901 by G.W. Baskett, replacing the original structure that had burned. G.W.’s son, Alf, was 15 years old at the time and it is told that he was enlisted to help. Probably others in the community helped also. All boards were replaced in 2005 by Carl Shepard and his crew due to rotting wood and termite damage.
Pattern: Mill and Stars Variation
Blankenship Farm
1305 Red Hill Rd, Greeneville 37743Greene County
Pattern: Rooster
Cave Law Firm/Andrew Johnson Historic Site
104 N College St, Greeneville 37745Greene County
This “Sawtooth Circle” quilt also known as “Sawtooth Sunburst” and “Sawtooth Star” can be found on Andrew Johnson’s bed at the Historic Site. It was made around 1880 by Elizabeth Parman Farnsworth in Greeneville. The quilt top is a hand-pieced and hand-quilted block pattern of concentric circles of rose medallions with borders and is 67 inches by 80.5 inches. The solid/plain and print cotton fabrics used for the quilt top are black, navy, red and white. Elizabeth Farnsworth was the niece of the man who built the house, James Brannon. The Brannon and Johnson families were contemporaries in Greeneville. While Johnson, a loyal Union man, served as vice president to Abraham Lincoln and then assumed the presidency upon Lincoln’s death, the Brannon family supported the Confederate cause. Elizabeth Farnsworth, the Brannon niece, gave the quilt to the Johnson family as a way of beginning a process of mending wounds caused by the Civil War. The actual quilt was likely used by Johnson’s descendants and was donated in 1965 to the Andrew Johnson Historic Site by Farnsworth’s great-granddaughter, Annabelle Brannon Davis. The Quilt Trail and its volunteers are delighted that this Sawtooth quilt mural can see a second life: the first Sawtooth Circle quilt square hung on the James-Ben Studio and Art Gallery at Main and Depot Streets. The quilt block was removed in the summer of 2013, when the gallery moved to Crescent School, and was never reinstalled due to James-Ben passing away in 2014. A symbol of new life, this quilt square was freshly repainted and installed adjacent to Andrew Johnson’s home, at the Cave Law Firm. The Cave Family is proud to give back to the community by hosting the square and supporting art and history in downtown. Andrew Johnson lived during a tumultuous and fascinating time in our nation’s history. To learn more about the man who was a mayor, Governor, state representative, Congressman, Senator, Vice President, and President, the National Park’s website is: http://www.nps.gov/anjo/index.htm
Pattern: Sawtooth
Website: http://www.caveattorneys.com
Cooks Greenhouse
3620 West Pines Road, Greeneville 37745Greene County
Home Grown Pride is a quilt pattern developed through a combined effort of Sandee Cook, owner of Cooks Greenhouses, and friends Kimberly Schneider, artist and Downtown Johnson City business owner, and Lynn Frierson, textile artist and quilter. Sandee Cook offers her botanical expertise in the greenhouse and in the kitchen: She offers Herbal ‘Tastings’ as well as workshops on how to choose, grow, care for, and harvest herbs, or where to purchase them to make herbal products for yourself and your family and friends. These products will include salves, lotions, balms, teas, infusions, tinctures, massage oils, as well as beauty and skin care products. Visit her website:
Pattern: Home Grown Pride
Artist: Kimberly Schneider
Website: http://www.mysticmoonherbs.com
Dobson/Rural Resources Farm
1870 Holly Creek Rd, Tusculum 37745Greene County
The quilt that inspired the Grandmothers Flower Garden quilt block was made right on the farm by Lizzie Brown Dobson in the early 1900s. Lizzie Dobson’s descendants still own the farm and operate the non-profit organization Rural Resources. Rural Resources is dedicated to educating the community in the preservation and improvement of agricultural land, preserving our rural heritage, and developing a locally sustainable system of producing and marketing agricultural products. Particularly they work with Greene County Youth. From the farm, Rural Resources coordinates sustainable gardening classes, a Farm Day Camp for children, the Four Seasons Grazing Club, and a Mobile Farmers Market. Visit their website at:
Pattern: Grandmother’s Flower Garden
Website: http://www.ruralresources.net
Easterly Farm
2806 Bewley Chapel Rd, Mosheim 37818Greene County
The Easterly Family is a First Tennessee Family, and the farm is a Pioneer Farm & Century Farm. Several publications include stories from the farm’s ancestors.
Dating to 1796, George and Mary Harpine Easterly initially acquired 600 acres of land. They would develop one of Greene County’s largest farms, eventually owning about 1100 acres producing corn, wheat, oats, flax, and livestock. In the 1820’s descendant Jacob Easterly embarked on an experiment: he purchased several tracts from family members and planted mulberry trees to raise silkworms. The silk cloth produced was considered of high quality, but the climate would not support the crop, and his ventured failed. Future generations would continue to produce milk, tobacco, corn, hay, and cattle. Over time the farm was parceled out and sold off. Current owner Mary Anna Easterly Pirozzoli inherited the remaining 79 acres.
Mary Anna’s grandfather, Frank P. Easterly, acquired the farmstead and 35 acres of family land in 1905. It is thought he built the barn at this time. It is a loose hay barn and still has the original hooks for loading hay into the loft. Mary Anna has many memories of being in the barn while “Pawpaw” milked his treasured Jersey Cows. He would squirt milk straight from the cow’s teat into the mouth of the barn cat. One particular day that she remembers well, a cow stepped into a full bucket of milk tipping it over. “He slung the bucket against the wall and cursed. He was a Christian man and was not known to ever curse, so I ran to my grandmother and tattled on him! I can stand exactly where this memory occurred, with a milk can, strainer, and maybe the actual infamous bucket in hand.”
The Little Red School House quilt commemorates a legacy of many teachers in the family. Mary Anna’s mother, Bogle Easterly Smith, made the Little Red School House quilt around 1980, using her mother’s quilting frames. When she was not quilting she had hooks coming down from the ceiling to raise the frame out of the way. In 1980 she was in her 80’s and living at the homeplace within site of the barn. Mary Anna still has her handcut pattern pieces used to make the quilt. The quilting horses and frames have been donated to the Nathanael Greene Museum in Greeneville (also on the Quilt Trail).
Teachers in the family included Mary Anna’s great grandfather, Francis Marion Easterly, who founded Parrotsville Academy (Cocke County), one of the first public schools in the area. Grandmother, Sally Easterly, attended the Asheville Normal Teachers College, as did Mary Anna’s mother, aunt, and cousin. Mary Anna graduated from Tusculum College with a degree in education. “All of us spent our entire careers educating children in our communities,” she writes.
The farm currently has horses, cattle and chickens. In 2009 the family placed 37 acres under a wetland restoration conservation easement with the US Dept of Agriculture. The wetlands are actively being restored through tree plantings.
Pattern: Little Red School House
Farm at Spring Creek
424 Spring Creek Place, Greeneville 37745Greene County
The Farm at Spring Creek is a family owned farm stay that offers a unique farm life experience with accommodations available in an authentic reconstructed log cabin. Stay and relax in the beautiful foothills of the Smokey Mountains and join us on a real working farm for a glimpse of farm life. If living off your own land is your dream, we also offer classes which aim to teach basic homesteading skills to beginners. We offer one day and multi-day seminars to get you started with the skills you need to cultivate and enjoy the agrarian lifestyle. We sell Fresh Eggs, Pure Honey, Handmade Crafts and Rustic Furniture all from our artisans here at The Farm. Our pattern is called Snow Crystal and was typically made with three colors of fabric; dark blue, light blue and white. The completed quilt would have a definite winter look with the snowy light colors and somewhat of a snowflake pattern. Here at The Farm at Spring Creek, our patriarch is a retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel so we made a slight color scheme change and replaced the light blue with red. This let us show a bit of patriotism with our heritage quilt design by using Red, White & Blue. This pattern was a locally used pattern according to several of our neighbors and local visitors.
Pattern: Snow Crystals (Red White & Blue Var.)
Website: http://www.thefarmatspringcreek.com/
Greeneville Antique Market
117 W Depot St, Greeneville 37745Greene County
The Greeneville Sun wrote the following story: The Irish Rose quilt square replicates an appliqué pattern from an early 1950s cotton quilt made by the late Faye Jennings Tarlton, mother of Greeneville Antique Market owners Rebecca Tarlton Wolfe and Vickie Tarlton Gregory. The pink, red and green pattern was painted by Saxonmeyer and other committee members Linnie Greene and George and Lois Blanks. It represents Tarlton’s early handiwork and lifelong love of all things Irish, and is one of only a few quilts she made using the appliqué process, her daughters said. Wolfe and Gregory said they selected the pattern from a collection of quilts by Tarlton that typically incorporate more intricate and complex patterns. “She enjoyed the more complex designs, and the puzzle of cutting pieces and fitting together the colors and designs,” Gregory said. But, according to the sisters, the simpler “Irish Rose” pattern reflects “the beginning of a young family.” Tarlton frequently quilted on a rack constructed by her husband in the basement, and often sang Irish and other traditional songs as she worked. The original “Irish Rose” quilt “has always been part of our lives,” Wolfe said. “We’re not sure that’s the actual name of the piece, but that’s what we call it.” The original quilt, along with numerous others crafted for her two daughters and four granddaughters, is part of Tarlton’s legacy, which includes numerous types of textiles, artwork and other handicrafts. The quilt square unveiled Sunday is mounted only feet from a Pet Milk Company mural, painted by local artist Joe Kilday as part of the “Windows To The Past” project. Wolfe and Gregory selected the Pet Milk mural for their building in honor of their father, the late Rev. Kenneth Tarlton, who was retired from the company and served as president of its workers’ union for a number of years. “Mother and Daddy would be absolutely thrilled to know that Vickie and I own a business downtown, and that we cared enough about them to show that” on the building, Wolfe said.
Pattern: Irish Rose
Greeneville- Greene County History Museum
100 West Mckee Street, Greeneville 37743Greene County
The Museum building was former Greeneville High School. This 3-story museum is a treasure trove of regional history and culture…and many, many quilts. Billie Roberts, a founding member of the Museum, initiated the idea of the Museum joining the Quilt Trail and she selected the quilt pattern. Museum Director, Earl Fletcher and Museum Board Member, W.C. “Bill” Riley, constructed the base, and Randi Nott, Museum Board Member, designed and painted the quilt square. The Quilt Square was installed in October 2008 to commemorate the Museum’s first Quilt Exhibit, “Crazy Over Quilts.” In 2009 the Museum hosted the second Quilt Exhibit, “History Of Greene County Quilts”, which went on the road to the American Quilters Society quilt show in Knoxville in the summer of 2010. In October 2010 the Museum designed and created a permanent Quilt Gallery, History Of Greene County Quilts: A Stop On The Appalachian Quilt Trail. Their website is:
Pattern: School House
Website: http://www.greenevillegreenecountyhistorymuseum.com/
Greeneville-Greene Co. Public Library
210 N. Main St, Greeneville 37745Greene County
The quilt that inspired the Library’s quilt block belongs to Library Board member Beth Roberts Hembree. It was created by her grandmother, Sallie Kate Neas, of the St. James community and St. James Lutheran Church.Library volunteer Alice Cornelia Loftin worked with Ms. Hembree to document the history of the quilt. Information also came from Ms. Hembree’s brother, Dr. Andy Roberts. Sallie Kate Neas made quilts for each of her eight grandchildren. Ms. Hembree thinks that she received her quilt when she was quite young, sometime in the 1950’s. It was kept in a cedar chest in the attic of the house where she grew up in Glenwood. On the occasions when Ms. Hembree accompanied adults making trips to the attic to store things or to retrieve them from storage, she was shown the quilt as a special treat.Ms. Hembree grew up, married, and lived and taught in North Carolina for thirty years. When she and Dr. Roberts were clearing out the house after both of their parents had passed away, they found the quilt, still in its cedar chest in the attic. Ms. Hembree recognized it at once. Memories came flooding back. Ms. Hembree and Dr. Roberts were taken by their mother to quilting parties held at the big house in St. James where Sallie Kate Neas had raised four children after the early death of her husband. She also ran the farm by herself and was, Ms. Hembree says, quite a strong and independent woman. But somehow, she always found time to quilt. There was a big quilt frame set up in her dining room where relatives and ladies of the community – most of them members of St. James Lutheran Church – gathered to work together. Ms. Hembree learned a few stitches there. “They were allowing me to try quilting,” she remembers. “But it was very difficult.” She remains in awe of Sallie Kate Neas, her mother, and those other ladies at the quilting parties, with their tiny stitches worked by hand. “It took such skill,” she says. The Newcomer’s Club Quilting Group has identified the uncommon quilt block pattern using Barbara Bachman’s The Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns. The square is shown in the section called “Four Patch with Curves” and is given the number 1499. The block was published ca. 1920 in The Household Journal as “Snowball,” and ca. 1930 in The Farmer’s Wife as “Windmill Design.” The Greeneville Library has a fascinating history as well: This year marks the 106th year of a public library in Greeneville. Few small towns in Tennessee can claim to have had a library for more than a century. The original library, begun in 1908 by the Cherokee Club, was located on Main Street between the Andrew Johnson Bank and First Presbyterian Church. In 1913 the Tennessee General Assembly enacted legislation authorizing Greeneville and Greene County to jointly operate a library. Funding from the Carnegie Foundation allowed the construction of a new library building on Summer Street, beside the present-day office of The Greeneville Sun. This building opened in 1915 and served the public until 1975. In November of 1975, the present structure at 210 North Main Street was opened. This story was contributed by Linnie Greene.
Pattern: Snowball
Website: http://www.ggcpl.org
HillSide Farm
3960 Snapps Ferry Rd, Afton 37616Greene County
Owner Shellie Hankins-Brown painted this pattern in 2014 to honor her family farm and her love for Appalachian handicraft (she is a Longaberger basket representative). The Hankins family has owned the farm for over 100 years and Shellie and Shane Hankins-Brown are the third generation to live in their house on the property. The original house stood on the back of the property of the picture above. Around the quilt barn you may see Boer Goats; the farm is registered with the Boer Goat Association.
Pattern: Basket of Chips
Artist: Painted by Shellie Hankins-Brown
Maple Grove Farm
2730 Highway 107 Cutoff, Greeneville 37616Greene County
The Dutch Doll quilt pattern is depicted on the square hanging on the barn, dubbed “Whistle Pig Barn”, at Maple Grove Farm. This pattern is also known as Sunbonnet Sue, Bonnie Bonnet, or Sunbonnet Babies. Whatever the name, it is one of the most widely painted patterns. Roy and May Johnson purchased the farm in 1915. Roy built the barn in 1916 from lumber hewn on site. The farm’s Nolichucky banks have been the site of an archaeological dig that discovered artifacts of an American Indian village. Visitors to Maple Grove Farm may occasionally catch a glimpse of various members of another family-—a family of groundhogs, has always lived in a burrow under the barn. In the Appalachians they are nicknamed whistle pig since when cornered they give a shrill cry…hence the Whistle Pig Barn name.
Pattern: Dutch Girl
Mardale Acres
3935 Horton Hwy, Greeneville 37745Greene County
Mardale Acres is a Century Farm and is also listed with the Greene County Heritage Society. This farm was purchased by AT Tucker, great-grandfather of the current owners, after he returned from the Civil War. He and his wife, Margaret, lived in a log home until they could build their home next door, which was completed in 1876. Their son, Bruce Tucker, was about 3 years old when they moved into the house. Many year later, Bruce’s son, Dale Tucker, would be born at the house and Dale’s four children (the current farm owners) would also come to grow up in the house. The farm has been a working farm all through the years, growing food for the family and the animals, as well as raising beef and tobacco. Tue Little Dutch Girl quilt was pieced by the owners’ mother, Dale’s wife. She was born in 1919 and she pieced the quilt as a child with some of her dress fabrics. It was later quilted in the 1950s by neighbors and family friends.
Pattern: Little Dutch Girl
Middle Creek Blueberry Farm
595 Middle Creek Road, Afton 37616Greene County
This blueberry farm sells ready picked fruit at local farmers markets and occasionally is open for u-pick. See their website:
Pattern: Blueberry Pie
Website: http://www.stonepile.org/mcbf.html
Moon Creek Farm
18 Browns Bridge Road, Greeneville 37745Greene County
A variation of Gentleman’s Fancy is the pattern on the barn at Moon Creek Farm. The quilt was made by Mary Susan Mickle Ricker, great-grandmother of Robert Ricker, who currently runs the farm. Mary’s family came to Greene County from Rock Hill, South Carolina when her father relocated to run the furnace at the local iron mine. Mary met and married Frederick K. Ricker. Mary was the postmistress at Limestone Springs and her husband was Justice of the Peace. The couple owned a store and lumber company in the Houston Valley area. Mary’s quilt is approximately 100 years old and is not a scrap quilt, as most of the quilts were at that time. The entire quilt is made of only three cotton fabrics, believed to have been from the family store. The Rickers bought Moon Creek Farm in 1939. The farm had been owned by the Campbell family for many years and was still known as the Campbell Farm although there had been several owners between the Campbell family and the Ricker family. Moon Creek is the creek that runs through a portion of the property. The family had dairy and beef cattle and raised large quantities of tobacco. The barn was used as a dairy barn until 1982. The original farm was approximately 165 acres and had remained intact until Highway 107 was enlarged to a four-lane and a portion of the farm was lost. It is believed that the barn was built while the farm belonged to the Campbell family. The barn and adjoining tobacco barn have always been painted red.
Pattern: Square in a Square
Myers Pumpkin Patch
3415 Gap Creek Road, Bulls Gap 37711Greene County
Myers Farm is a 500-acre working farm and event entertainment location open year round. The first corn maze in Northeast Tennessee! Visit their website for hours and events:
Pattern: Log Cabin
Website: http://www.myerspumpkinpatch.com
Nolichucky Bend Farm
745 Park Lane, Greeneville 37743Greene County
The Dresden Plate pattern on the quilt square at Nolichucky Bend Farm is taken from the quilt bought by Dr. Robert Schell as a gift for his wife, Ruth, in 1960. He purchased the hand-pieced and quilted, all-cotton quilt at an antique shop in Glen Elly. After the Schells purchased the farm in 1980, over the next decade it became the largest sheep operation in the state of Tennessee. Acres of tobacco were also raised and processed during that time when it was all hand-tied and packed in tobacco baskets.
Pattern: Dresden Plate (Sunflower)
Nolichucky Bluffs Cabins
295 Kinser Park Ln, Greeneville 37743Greene County
Nestled in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains near historic Greeneville, Tennessee, Nolichuckey Bluffs offers a relaxing escape with East Tennessee hospitality. Owners Pat and Brooke Sadler, and their daughter Pam, spent eleven years in Asia in mission service before returning home to the United States.The Sadler’s ‘retired’ to their Tennessee homestead in 1995 and began to share their cabins and their productive vegetable farm on the breathtaking Nolichuckey River cliff bluffs.
More information at:
Pattern: Crazy Quilt
Website: http://www.tennessee-cabins.com/
Quilt Alley at the General Morgan Inn
Alley near 120 Depot St / off General Morgan Inn main lobby 37745Greene County
The Union Hotel ‘Crazy’ quilt was passed down to DeAnna Daniels-Pillar from her great grandfather, John P. Bohannon. The Union Hotel quilt is made of velvet and brocade fabric, cut and pieced in random shapes. There is no known information on the 1880’s circa quilt maker but it is known that the quilt was a functional piece used as a carriage blanket during the cold months for trips between the hotels and the train station. The Union Hotel was located in a spot known for generations as “Mason’s Corner”. Four hotels were built in the 1880’s in response to the coming of the railroad. The “railroad” hotels all interconnected at the second floor level with a bridge across an alleyway. The hotels each maintained “drays” that met each train at the depot and transported passengers to the hotel of their choice. John P. Bohannon came into possession of the Union Hotel when a bank that previously occupied the location failed. Bohannon had investment money in the Union Bank, thus when it failed he wound up taking the property as part of the loss. Soon thereafter the Union Bank became the Union Hotel and continued under Bohannon’s ownership for over twenty-five years. The vault, once a fixture of the Union Bank, still to this day sits in the building’s basement. Though the Union Hotel was not actually considered a full-scale boarding house since it didn’t provide meals, in addition to catering to the needs of temporary quests it also provided permanent housing for a small number of local residents. The long term boarding operation was run and managed by Mrs. Lee Yonz, mother of Greeneville’s currently well-known resident, Buddy Yonz. Buddy and his mother lived in the Union Hotel from 1949 to 1971 when Mrs. Yonz’s health prevented her from continuing in that capacity. In a separate release Buddy stated that he thought living with his mother at the hotel was a rather exciting experience. He shared memories of several local characters he met during his twenty-two years living at the hotel, such as Ham Hamlin, George Hardin (Mayor Hardin’s brother) and Junior Brobeck, whom he said was a very talented one-arm painter.
Pattern: Crazy Carriage Blanket
Artist: Amy Saxonmeyer
Quilt Alley at the General Morgan Inn
Alley near 120 Depot St / off General Morgan Inn main lobby 37745Greene County
Sponsored by the Greeneville-Greene County History Museum, this quilt is also affectionately known as ‘The Man Quilt’ because it was made by a man, Adam Burger. Adam’s ‘Scrap’ quilt features a block which is dated 1896. The quilt is hand pieced and hand sewn with brown counterpane fabric on the reverse side. The quilt top contains 6-and-one-half inch squares surrounded by 1-3/8 inch black bands. Dorothy ‘Dodie’ Melton, the great grand-daughter of Adam, currently resides in the family home place built in the 1800’s by her great, great grandparents and she donated the quilt to the Museum in 2003 where it can be viewed upon request. As Swiss born immigrants, the Burgners came to the Horse Creek area of Greene County in the early 1800s. Christian (b. 1811) was one of the family members who was known for his furniture making skills. Adam Burgner was the son of Christian and was born January 31, 1857. In 1883, Adam married Sarah Alice Copp Painter, the widow of George Painter, and had 3 children. After his wife became incapacitated due to health issues, Adam assumed all the roles of caring for his family. During the winter months when farming was somewhat suspended, Adam took on all of the household chores which included cooking, sewing, making clothing and quilts.
Pattern: Scrap Pattern
Artist: Amy Saxonmeyer
Quilt Alley at the General Morgan Inn
Alley near 120 Depot St / off General Morgan Inn main lobby 37745Greene County
Sponsored by Gloria Jane Susong, this Feathered Star quilt was made by her great grandmother Martha Jane Harmon Bohannon in the 1870s. Gloria Jane was named after her great grandmother and inherited the family home place on White House Road where the quilt was made. Martha Jane married William Thomas Bohannon in the mid 1800’s. He served in the Union Army. William’s father was a potter and worked with Haun and Peter Harmon (Harmon’s pottery of Baileyton Pike) who were linked to the Pottertown’s Bridge Burners. Gloria’s grandfather, John Bohannon was born and raised on the home place and was known for his love for animals, especially his goats. The story goes that found the goats in Texas and transported them back to his farm in Greeneville claiming they were extremely smart animals and that you could ‘teach them to do anything’. (Gloria still keeps goats on the homeplace.) He was a very industrious man and would take on unusual jobs that no one else could do. In 1911 he moved all the equipment into the power house at the river damn and hauled 90,000 barrels of cement. John is also credited with erecting the trusses at the present day Greene County Courthouse using his mule whom he called ‘Dan’. John married Della Davey Bird Smith.
Pattern: Feathered Star
Artist: Linnie Greene and Barbara Evans
Esther & Ella’s Boutique
129 North Main St, Greeneville 37743Greene County
On Esther & Ella’s Boutique, formerly Richland Creek Antiques, the Crazy Quilt was made by many hands of members of the Cumberland Presbyterian “Cannonball” Church across the street, to commemorate their sesquicentennial anniversary. There are 4 “mini” quilt blocks grouped together in a diamond pattern.
Pattern: Crazy Quilts
Artist: Amy Saxonmeyer
Website: http://www.gcpchurch.org/
Sallie Rose Bohannon Building
129 S. Main St, Greeneville 37743Greene County
Located on the back of the building. Sallie Rose Bohannon was the first family member to open a business, a millinery store, at the location in 1923. Photographs, clothing and other reminders of her business are prominent in the front display windows. Sallie continued to do a successful business, even after becoming crippled with arthritis, waiting on loyal customers up to the age of 80. Four generations of women descendants have since operated a business in the building. Currently owned by Andrea Daniels, Sallie’s great grand-daughter. In the building is Glory Days and Vagabond Graphics, by Sallie Bonhannon’s great great granddaughter, Angie Taylor. The quilt was created in the 1880s by Elizabeth ‘Bettie’ Howell Bohannon, mother of Sallie Rose Bohannon.
Pattern: New York Beauty
Artist: Sherry Hensley and Amy Saxonmeyer
Snybert Farm
2080 S. Allens Bridge Rd, Greeneville 37743Greene County
The current owners may be new to this farm and its sweeping mountain vista backdrop, but the barn has been a community resource since it was built in the 1950s. Neighbors in the S. Allen’s Bridge area remember hanging tobacco to cure in its rafters and working the nearby fields. The barn could fit 5 acres worth of tobacco leaves. Today it houses hay. Nancy Snybert painted this Dresden Plate quilt mural in 2014, one of her favorite quilt patterns.
Pattern: Dresden Plate
Artist: Painted by Nancy Snybert
Southerland Farms
1390 Birdwell Mill Rd, Greeneville 37743Greene County
Southerland Farm is a Century Farm that hosts events during the year. What is today known as the Southerland Farm was owned at the turn of the twentieth century by John Bowers. In 1900 he transferred a portion of that land to Mary Bowers. In 1901 Mary married Thomas H. Foreman. On 76 acres, they and their nine children raised tobacco, hay and cattle. T.H. was also a mail carrier and taught school in the Meadow Creek community. In 1939, Hugh Foreman acquired his parents’ farm. Married to Flossie Foreman, the couple had three children–James H. (Bobby) Foreman, Lowell Foreman and Charlise Foreman Wilson. Gwyn Southerland, the current owner and granddaughter of Flossie recalls that she was a “wonderful, hard-working woman.” When workers came to the farm to cut tobacco, she would cook “chicken and gravy and homemade light bread with all the trimmings.” The men would eat their fill, then go sit or lie “under the two 100 year-old pecan trees in the yard.” Flossie and Hugh are buried in the cemetery of the Meadow Creek Presbyterian Church. James H. (Bobby) Foreman was the next generation to own the land. Bobby and his wife, Marlene Goins Foreman, and their two children, Beverly Gwyn and Jamie raised tobacco, corn and black angus cattle. In October of 1997, Beverly Gwyn and her husband, Jerry A. Southerland, Jr. became the owners of the property. They and their son Jeremy live in a 1920 house while their daughter Annie and husband Chris Bailey and their children, Preston, 4 and Autumn, 2, also live on the farm. Gwyn and Jerry work and manage the farm selling hay, fodder, and pumpkins in season.
Pattern: Tobacco
Still Hollow Farm
3004 West Allens Bridge Road, Greeneville 37743Greene County
This farm has been owned by 5 generations of family. Their website tells what’s new on the farm and at the gift shop. The minute Ann Birdwell saw the Ear of Corn quilt made by Naomi Shipley Jones, she knew this was the pattern to hang on the granary at Still Hollow Farm. Its significance is in the fact that corn has played an integral part throughout the existence of the farm in sustaining many generations of the Birdwell family. James Allen, Sr. acquired the farm in 1857 when he purchased it from William M. Crawford. James also had many other land holdings, but this was home to him and his second wife, Molly Birdwell Allen. James’ father, Daniel Allen, was a prominent East Tennessee patriarch. An 1836 entry in Andrew Johnson’s tailoring log book reads “To the account of Daniel Allen $6.50.” James Sr.’s son, James Allen, Jr. and his wife, Elizabeth Jay Birdwell Allen (younger sister of Molly) inherited the farm. James Jr. served as a state legislator in 1923. He introduced a bill to appropriate money for making improvements on the Andrew Johnson tailor shop in Greeneville. Although they had no children, James Jr. and Elizabeth raised Elizabeth’s nephew, George Leo Birdwell, and nieces, Elizabeth and Louise Birdwell. George Leo Birdwell and his wife, Julia Gladys Russell Birdwell bought the home and farm at public auction in 1952 from his sister who had inherited the farm upon the death of James, Jr. The farm is now owned by Jay Birdwell, Sr. and his wife, Ann. Their middle son, George Thomas Birdwell, and his wife also live on the farm. The Birdwell family continues to maintain the farm.
Pattern: Ear of Corn
Artist: Painted by Greeneville High School students
Website: http://www.stillhollowfarm.com
T. Elmer Cox Genealogy Library
229 N. Main St, Greeneville 37745Greene County
Submitted to the Quilt Trail for the Cox Library by Virginia Kidwell, with geneaology research by Don Miller. The quilt was made by Virginia’s mother, Rose Payne Thorpe (1920 – 2008), and her sisters during the fall and winter of 1974. The fabric is mostly cotton remnants that remained from made dresses for herself and daughters during a period of time when she made most of the family’s outfits. This particular quilt was one that Ms. Rose took great pride in the construction and symmetry of her craftsmanship, and she pieced the entire thing by herself. The intricacy of this pattern dictates that the work be done entirely by hand and requires an inordinate amount of time and patience. She placed a frame in the upstairs of her home on Kenwood Drive near downtown Greeneville and worked on it alone or with her sisters over the course of several months. Ms. Rose was a member of the Payne family from Cedar Creek in Southern Greene County. She and her sisters learned to quilt from their mother, Docie Bell Shelton Payne who was a creative and talented seamstress throughout her entire life.
Pattern: Cathedral Windows
Artist: Amy Saxonmeyer
Town Hall
200 N. College St, Greeneville 37743Greene County
Located on the East Church St. side of the building. The ‘Liberty Star Signature quilt’ was made in 1941 by Georgie-Ike, the wife of Ike Bowman. Ike Bowman was a hauler for the Pet Milk Company for many years and his wife often rode with him on his route. Georgie-Ike collected the signatures of Greeneville Greene County families which were then embroidered on the quilt. There was a nominal fee to have a name included, at that time probably 5 or 10 cents as a fundraiser for the Greystone Free Will Baptist Church. The quilt itself was likely finished by Georgie-Ike possibly with neighbors helping. The quilt was then auctioned off to benefit the church—but by then the Bowmans had come to love it so much they bid the highest! While the Bowmans lived in the Greystone Community all their lives, the signatures on the quilt come from a larger part of Greene County. The actual quilt is now on display in the Fellowship Hall of the Greystone Free Will Baptist Church. It came to be memorialized on the Quilt Trail when Greeneville Town Hall reached out to the community via the newspaper and social media with a call for quilt submissions for the town hall quilt block. The community then had an opportunity to vote on a favorite with the winner being announced at the Town’s fourth of July event right before the fireworks. The descendants of the Bowmans at Greystone Free Will Baptist Church submitted the Liberty Star quilt and received the most votes.
Pattern: Liberty Star
Artist: Amy Saxonmeyer
Walnut Ridge Farm and Store
1345 Chuckey Hwy, Chuckey 37641Greene County
Walnut Ridge Llama Farm is dedicated to “breeding a new generation of quality llamas” with strong confirmation, a stretchy balance, and gentle dispositions. We invite you to visit our farm and Store and share the excitement that llamas have added to our lives.
The Maple Leaf pattern hangs on the barn at Walnut Ridge Farm. The farm owners, Jerry and Carolyn Ayers, have the original quilt hanging on a wall of their cabin nearby. It was made by Jerry’s grandmother, Pansy Evans, in the late 1950s. Acquired by the couple in 1984, the farm is an area favorite for Spooky Llama Halloween, Farm Camps, and other llama socializing. Events and news can be found at:
Pattern: Maple Leaf
Website: http://www.walnutridgellamas.com
Windy Hill Farm
10650 Hwy 107 Cutoff, Greeneville 37743Greene County
Pattern: Eastern Star
Woods-Gift Farms
13705 Horton Hwy, Greeneville 37745Greene County
Woods-Gift Farm offers a variety of jams and jellies, sugar-free spreads, dry mixes (gingerbread, shortbread, scone, biscuit, cookie, and pancake), ice cream toppings, curds, floral jellies and rose candy. All products are natural. Woodsgift Farm uses no artificial ingredients, fillers or preservatives. Approximately 95 percent of the products are from original recipes. The folks at Woodsgift Farm refer to their products as “memory foods,” because so many are old favorites which are now hard to find.
Pattern: Bayleaf
Website: No Website; Call (423) 234-5532
