Monday morning, September 9, Co-Mo Connect arrived with bucket trucks to install the barn quilt Marge Lumpe had selected for her barn on 52 highway on the eastern edge of Cole Camp. The barn and the farm belonged to Marge’s mother-in-law Helen Lumpe and Marge wanted to honor her with a barn quilt depicting flowers.
Helen Bohling Lumpe was a great lover of flowers both cultivated and wild. She was well know for dried flower arrangements and oversaw the floriculture show at the Cole Camp Fair for an untold number of years.
Marge was encouraged to have a barn quilt made for the old barn but knew the structure needed some TLC first as there were boards missing on the building. A meticulous restoration carpenter was contacted and he agreed to do the repairs; he even had old lumber that matched so repairs wouldn’t be obvious but blend with the original.
Benton County has a Barn Quilt Trail program and has had for a few years. The program helps promote and appreciate rural art, honoring quilters and promotes their artistic work. The barn quilts draw attention to heritage barns and encourages preservation of these vanishing structures.
The old barns tell a story about the people and draws motorists and tourists to rural roads and communities. The Quilt designs are innovative messages that bring people together and gives a sense of Country pride. They are a form of American folk art and bring an economic impact to a community when outsiders visit and spend money. The Barn Quilt Trails brings new cash into a small community and shores up the local merchants along Main Street.
The local Barn Quilt Trail is promoted and overseen by Benton County Tourism, not only as a way to increase Tourism dollars but a way to preserve part of our vanishing rural history.
