Apple Pie Ridge
Quilts were displayed in themes throughout the house: pink and green, signature, applique, family, local (Winchester/Frederick County), and utilitarian
I just finished another fantastic quilt history/appreciation weekend. The Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society (in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley) presented “A Focus on Quilts from the Lower Shenandoah Valley.” For those familiar with the pattern, this is the base of Mary Robare’s research on the “Apple Pie Ridge Star.”
One version of the Apple Pie Ridge Star pattern
We kicked off the weekend with a house and quilt tour at Cherry Row, a late 18th century home built by a quaker couple outside of Winchester, Virginia. The current owners are restoring it to be as close as possible to it’s c. 1780 origins while still including some of those 21st century comforts we don’t want to live without, like plumbing, a refrigerator and microwave. The latter two items are artfully hidden behind period-looking cabinetry.
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Cherry Row, c. 1780 home situated on Apple Pie Ridge
In addition to a magnificent house with loads of local antique furniture, the owners have amassed an impressive quilt collection. They generously allowed the visitors to inspect all of their restored rooms and most of the rooms had thematically arranged portions of their quilt collection (see photo above). Docents were on hand to share information about the quilts, the owners’ collecting philosophy and even more information about other objects in the rooms.
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View from house to road on Apple Pie Ridge
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View from the backyard.
Once we exhausted ourselves looking at quilts we could go outside to take in the serene beauty of the ridge and imagine that little has changed in the countryside since the first Quaker couple started construction on their home that has remained inhabited for the last 230 years.
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Pink and green apple blossom and basket quilt
I must point out the pink and green quilts included in the owners’ collection. As you may have deduced, apples are a critical component of the economy, history and life on Apple Pie Ridge. Winchester has an Apple Blossom Festival every year and that is the excuse to break out a profusion of pink and green quilts, many with apple blossom motifs. My particular favorite vignette was the wonderful green bench (below) with hand pieced/hand quilted pink and green quilt draped over the back.
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After our house tour, we were welcomed at the the historical society’s lecture hall and enjoyed a lecture by Alden O’Brien, Quilt and Textiles Curator at the DAR Museum in Washington, DC, on the Quilts of Amelia Lauck. On Saturday, we had four more interesting and enlightening lectures: Tracking the Apple Pie Ridge Star, by Mary Robare; Quilts for Two Centuries, by Pam Pampe; Shenandoah Patriots-Martz Family Quilts, 1838-1860, by Neva Hart and, finally, Domesticating Quilts: Furnishings, Formalism, and Folk Art, by Linda Eaton.
Congratulations and thank you to the Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society for a quality educational and sensory experience!
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I couldn’t sign off without one more antique quilt photo.
P.S. Wish you could have attended this terrific quilt event? Well, you missed this one but stay tuned for information on the upcoming DAR exhibit: “Eye on Elegance: Early Quilts of Maryland & Virginia” and the corresponding symposium.
What a great post. Loved the green bench and quilt image. The house is a beauty. I am glad to see you had a great time. I have not stopped by in a while but wanted to wish you well.
What a lot of lovely photographs you have posted; both the gorgeous house & its surrounds, and the lovely, lovely quilts. Thank you.
You've had quite the month of quilt study, way to go!!
The p/g quilt on the green bench is fantastic.
Thanks for sharing.
Wow! What lovely quilts! I need a quilty trip!! lol
Love the eye candy! Sounds like a great weekend.:)
Looks like you had an amazing time! Thanks for sharing this with us. Love the home, the quilts, the view, the history!
Thanks for sharing some really lovely quilts. I've always enjoyed the pink and green combination. I've made an apple pie ridge appliqued square and it was a challenge. Nice to hear from you.
What a wonderful weekend you had. Would love to see any more photos you have from the weekend.
How wonderful this all looks! I love the green bench with the pink and green quilt! So simple and so lovely.
What a lovely location
Ohh that folded triangle quilt looks so interesting and beautiful. Lovely post about all these beauties.
Oh WOW Taryn! What a post! Those antique quilts – piles of gorgeous antique quilts!! The applique quilt covered bed is unbelievable!! Did you get to unfold them to get a look at the whole quilt? I absolutely adore the pink and green quilt hanging over that fabulous green bench. I need to make a pink and green quilt – maybe I'll start today!! :0) Thanks SO much for sharing your pictures!
Sounds absolutely wonderful. Thanks for sharing the photos of the quilts and the location, both are inspiring!
Taryn – a fabulous post – thank you for sharing this with us. Ever since we have been working on the Benjamin Biggs quilt the block Apple Pie Ridge had been popping up with great interest. And that dreamy quilt draped over the green bench is a heart stopper. Would you be able to share that image on Pinterest?
If one of my favorite magazines, Early American Life doesn't all ready know about the Cherry house, they should feature it in a future issue.
It was good to see you again.
amazing, beautiful, wow!!!!! I am so thrilled to see a post from you. must have been an amazing weekend. oh how I love that hst quilt, I have been wanting to make one for a while now…. do you have a full picture of that one??? thanks for sharing your weekend adventure with us
thanks
Kathie
Awesome, Taryn.
I wish I could have been there but enjoying it vicariously through your dialogue and photos was second best.
Thanks for sharing.
Hi Taryn! so wonderful to see a post from you! What a fabulous post at that! So many beautiful old quilts. We just don't have anything quite with the same history as the states. New Zealand is such a 'baby' of a country. Thank you for sharing.