Appalachian Quilt Trail in Kentucky

This square is part of the Appalachian Quilt Trail in Kentucky. You can find quilt panels like these across the Appalachian region of the United States. For seekers, locating one of the colorful dots is like finding buried treasure. Following the Appalachian Quilt Trail in Kentucky can carry you through several parts of the state.

There is actually not a set "trail" per se, so you won't travel through the countryside on a set path. You can usually find them in clusters or within a reasonable reach of each other. Some can be seen from interstate.

The website for the Appalachian Quilt Trail in Kentucky will help you find the panels. The site is divided by county. Click the link for the county that interests you, plug the information into your GPS and you're off.

I was returning to Tennessee from Lexington when this quilt panel caught my attention. It's easily seen from the interstate and intrigued me enough to turn around and snap this photo.


Seeing the panels and downloading the brochure made me want to know more about Appalachian Quilt train in Kentucky. A little more digging (and a hot tip from a friend) led me to an expert.

I caught up with author Suzi Parron at a book signing in Athens, Tennessee. She has the full scoop on how the Appalachian Quilt Trail began. Her book: Barn Quilts and the American Quilt Trail details the history of the trail and its origins.

Her book covers how the trail began. Forget everything that you thought you knew about how it got started. It didn't have anything to do with tourism, the Amish or advertising. I was surprised to learn that the trail was born from a humbling set of circumstances. From there it spread through Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia and across Appalachia. You can read more about the book and the signing on this blog article.