About the quilt & barn

Address:

4057 Route 307, Austinburg Township.

Directions:

Interstate 90 to the Route 45 exit; south to Route 307, turn right, toward Geneva. Business with barn quilt is at the northeast corner of 307 and Mechanbicsville Road.

Quilt sponsors:

Cope Farm Equipment

Quilt artist:

Kathy McCarty

The building:

Storage barn for Cope Farm Equipment. At one time, prior to becoming a farm equipment business, this building housed a gas station. It was selected for the barn quilt because of its close proximity to the highway and was cited on the south side of the barn so motorists traveling from the Mechanicsville Covered Bridge would notice it. “It was just a nice place to put up a barn quilt,” says Nancy Younessi, general manager.

The quilt:

Twisting Star in yellow and green; 4×4 feet. Nancy Younessi, who is a fabric quilter, chose the pattern simply because she liked it. “The pattern just popped out,” she says. Younessi, who made the decision to go with a barn quilt, heard about the proposed trail through a Rotary Club presentation. “It felt like the right thing to do. … I believe we all have to help each other,” she says.

The business:

Cope Farm Equipment’s Austinburg store is one of the oldest John Deere dealerships in the state. It was started by Frank Babucz as Frank’s Tractor Sales.

Nancy Younessi has been manager at Cope Farm Equipment since 1996 and has worked at the store since the owner at the time, Mary Lachey, knocked on her door and asked her to come to work for her. Mary Lachey was Frank’s daughter and co-owner of the store from 1956 to 1994.

Frank’s Tractor Sales was sold to Cope in January 1994; Younessi came with the business. Younessi says the quilt is a memorial to the woman who gave her the job.

“It seemed like a nice thing to put up in her memory,” Younessi says.