Port Hope Barn Quilts: Bright Designs, Bold 150-Foot Goal

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Port Hope barn quilts get a new online guide with local stories, painting tips and a plan to fill the 150-foot museum wall along M-25 in Michigan’s Upper Thumb.

PORT HOPE, Mich. — The colorful squares on the Lumberyard Museum’s walls now come with something a passing driver cannot see: the stories behind them and instructions for making one at home.

The Port Hope Area Historical Society has launched a web page devoted to its barn quilt collection. It brings together local history, painting advice and woodworking instructions as volunteers pursue a larger goal: filling the museum’s 150-foot wall facing M-25 with quilts.

“We want to provide people with the background behind our quilts, but also give would-be barn quilt makers information they can use to create one for their own place,” said Diane Kriewall, chair of the society’s Barn Quilt Project committee.

Port Hope barn quilts put local people in the picture

The new page explains how Port Hope barn quilts recognize people and places connected to the village. A design honoring the Hunter family includes a central H, tools representing the lumberyard and blue stars recalling the former Port Hope Community Schools’ Bluestars teams.

The family donated the building and grounds that became the museum. Another quilt, with red, white and blue triangles, honors veterans, particularly AMVETS Post 115. A tulip design reflects volunteer Mary Burkhard’s Dutch heritage, while a sunrise panel draws on the familiar sight of morning light over Lake Huron.

Those explanations give viewers a way to read the display beyond its colors. The collection also includes a lighthouse design dedicated to Catharine Shook and a panel representing Vic Ingram’s homemade Guppy airplane. The society says the actual aircraft is on display in the museum.

Port Hope barn quilts come with practical advice

Readers can access the project via the Barn Quilt Project link on HistoricPortHope.org. Its separate sections cover the designs, painting methods, board construction, and ways to support the volunteer effort. The nonprofit historical society owns and operates the museum. Most quilts face M-25, with additional pieces mounted at the building’s north and south peaks, according to the release. That arrangement makes the exterior itself part of the museum’s effort to tell local stories.

The instructions make clear that these quilts require paint and wood rather than fabric. The painting guide recommends sketching a pattern on a grid, testing colors on paper and carefully transferring the design to the board. Volunteers stress checking the layout before painting, when mistakes remain easier to correct.

The construction section records Dave Burkhard’s methods, including framing, gluing and priming the boards. For prospective makers, the value is practical: the site documents the work behind the finished display, including preparation that a roadside glance would miss.

A traditional look with a surprisingly recent history

QR code taking people directly to the barn quilt page

Barn quilts may suggest a custom handed down unchanged for generations. But the organized quilt-trail movement is much newer than that appearance implies.

In a 2024 WCMU interview, Susan Shantz of Quilt Trails of Michigan traced its inspiration to Donna Sue Groves’ project in southern Ohio around 2000 or 2001. Shantz, who said she started her own trail in 2012, described recreating family quilt patterns on painted boards as a way to connect the artwork with family and farm histories.

That distinction matters in Port Hope: these are new works interpreting community history, not surviving artifacts from the lumberyard’s early years. The society’s project page credits the late volunteer Sid Holodnick with proposing the display. A committee formed in 2025 to coordinate designs and production.

Port Hope barn quilts also connect visitors to the Thumb Quilt Trail, which covers Huron, Tuscola and Sanilac counties. The new page links readers to that wider route. For now, filling the museum wall remains a long-term ambition rather than a completed installation. The release gives no completion date or total fundraising target.

Works Cited and Sources for Further Background

Port Hope Area Historical Society. “Barn Quilt Project.” Accessed 13 Sept. 2026.

Port Hope Area Historical Society. “Find Out About Our Barn Quilt Project.” Accessed 13 Sept. 2026.

Port Hope Area Historical Society. “Learn How We Paint Our Quilt Designs.” Accessed 13 Sept. 2026.

Sawyer, Tina. “Barn Quilt Trails Are Growing Trend in Michigan Agro-Tourism.” WCMU Public Media, 5 Sept. 2024. Accessed 13 Sept. 2026.

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