Made in Vermont: Rattlesnake Ridge Barn Quilts

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Ellen Lynch has a lot of beauty hiding in her West Haven garage, including her classic Mustang that she restored herself.

“It’s a fair-weather friend,” she said with a smile. “I don’t drive it in the rain, I don’t drive it on days that are too hot.”

But, the other things kept in this garage do much better in the elements.

“I put them outside of my shop here and people driving by see them and they stop, they’re curious,” she said of her Rattlesnake Ridge Barn Quilts, all painted by hand. “I’ve been artistic all my life. At one point in time, I was an elementary school art teacher.”

After a 40-year career reupholstering old cars, Lynch decided during the pandemic that she needed something a little easier on the body and tapped back into her artistic roots.

“You can get lost in one for hours and hours and hours. I love playing with color,” she said. “I find it very peaceful.”

But, why barn quilts? Lynch said it started when she needed something to fill a big empty wall at her camp in Chittenden. She opted for a DIY project with a historical significance that she just couldn’t gloss over.

“They were very popular back during the 1800s during the Underground Railroad days,” Lynch explained. “They served as signals to the runaway slaves; where a safe house was, where a food source was.”

Though they dwindled in use since then, Lynch says barn quilts made their way back into the spotlight in the 1990s thanks to a resurgence in Ohio.

“And now they’re very prominent in states other than Vermont,” she said, though she’s trying to make them popular here, too.

These barn quilts are just decorative, and while they’re painted on wood, each one is based off of a traditional fabric quilt pattern. Lynch finds inspiration from colors all around her.

“The three dimensions, it’s always eye-popping. Some of them are mesmerizing,” she said.

Lynch takes custom orders all the time, with some customers bringing in paint samples to color match, and others, swatches from grandma’s favorite quilt.

“They’re very addictive. People buy more than one all the time. One woman has purchased six of them, I don’t know where she’s putting them all,” she said with a smile.

These works of art might be addictive, but they’re also beautiful and made in Vermont.

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