BENNINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Quilters are gathering in Bennington this weekend for an annual festival that stitches together Vermont traditions with American history.
Shaftsbury resident Abbie Dansereau is not only an avid quilter, but a member of the local historical society and Daughters of the American Revolution chapter.
“Such a rich history in this area that I feel like I missed out on growing up, but now I’m appreciating it as an adult,” Dansereau said.
She hopes a special exhibit at this weekend’s Bennington Quiltfest can help increase that awareness ahead of America’s 250th birthday. The exhibit is made up of about 50 quilts to mark the semiquincentennial.
“We had a special project every year. They would do something, and I said, ‘Hey, we need to do something for America 250,’” said Diane Van Kempen, a quilter from Williamstown, Massachusetts.
From large to small, each quilt took months of work by the seamstresses, hours by the long-arm machine, layering each section on top of the other.
Van Kempen says the project features the Nehemiah Smedley house in Williamstown, where Benedict Arnold stayed before meeting up with the Green Mountain Boys to take Fort Ticonderoga.
“I like doing representational and putting interesting things, items on it,” Van Kempen said.
” I love the fact that somebody’s got a teapot because it’s like the Tea Party,” said Joyce Eves, a participant from Buskirk, N.Y. She says she’s interested in seeing the other American Revolutionary War-themed quilts. “I kind of wanted to do something different than red, white, and blue because I knew everybody would gravitate towards red, white, and blue.”
Dansereau, a native of Danby, says she remembers the bicentennial celebrations in town in 1976 and is hoping her handiwork can create memories for future generations.
Bennington Quiltfest runs all weekend at the Mount Anthony Union Middle School.
