Our barn quilts
No. 1, Blakeslee Log Cabin barn
Plymouth Township
About the quilt & barn
Address:
441 Seven Hills Road, Plymouth Township
Directions:
From Route 11, take the Seven Hills Road exit, which is south of the Route 84 and Route 20, Ashtabula, exits. Turn left, go across the bridge over Route 11. Property will be on your right.
The barn:
Blakeslee Log Cabin was built in 1810. The homestead interprets the lifestyle that the early settlers from New England would have had in Ashtabula County and The Western Reserve.
The bank barn was constructed for the Ashtabula County Historical Center, owner of the Blakeslee property, to provide additional interpretation of the agrarian way of life that the Blakeslee family had. The barn measures 24-by-36 feet. It was constructed over a period of several years, beginning in 2006. Students from A-tech, then known as the Ashtabula County Joint Vocational School, did carpentry and masonry work on the barn.
The floor of the barn was donated by the late Gilbert Seymour of Plymouth Township. The interior siding came off the Mechanicsville Road Covered Bridge when it was rehabilitated 2004-2006.
The quilt:
Steering committee members worked with the Ashtabula County Historical Society to select the quilt pattern and colors. Of course, a log cabin pattern was selected.
Plymouth Township Firefighters (from left) prepare to take the quilt up the ladders. From left are Chief Bill Strubbe, Lt. Dave Shumate and Jody Bancroft.
Plymouth Firefighter Jody Bancroft puts the final screw into the barn quilt while Chief Bill Strubbe and Lt. Dave Shumate stabilize the quilt.
Chris Angerman (foreground) and Kathy McCarty of the Ashtabula County Barn Quilts Trail Steering Committee watch as the firefighters take the quilt up the ladder and screw it to the barn. The women painted the quilt in McCarty's garage.
Plymouth firefighters Dave Shumate (left) and Chief Bill Strubbe hold the ladder as Jody Bancroft touches up the quilt with some black paint following installation June 10.
The first of what will hopefully be dozens of barn quilts is on the Blakeslee Log Cabin barn, Seven Hills Road at Route 11.
Installation:
The first barn quilt of the county's new barn quilts trail was hung on the barn at the Blakeslee Log Cabin the evening of June 10, 2014.
Three volunteer firefighters -- Chief Bill Strubbe, Lt. Dave Shumate and Jody Bancroft -- from the Plymouth Volunteer Fire Department hoisted the signboard panel some 15 feet and secured it to the east side of the barn.
"It's beautiful," said Chris Angerman, who with Kathy McCarty co-founded the county's barn quilt trail.
McCarty, Angerman and Lynn Frank painted the quilt, which is a variation on the traditional log cabin pattern. The quilt measures 4 by 4 feet and was hung on a diagonal.
Installation took less than one hour once the hanging board was leveled and screwed to the barn.