Northern Carroll County Barn Quilt Driving Tour

This Sunflower quilt block is “set on point” on a small bank barn that dates to the mid 1800s. The owner chose this pattern because volunteer sunflowers will occasionally appear on the property.

I love barns — and if you’re reading this, I bet you do too! A good barn tour will carry you through rolling farmland countryside, and this barn tour, which leads you through barns in the north part of Carroll County (about 30 minutes northeast of Frederick and about 1 hour north of Baltimore), offers beautiful old barns and some gorgeous countryside, as well as old churches and their burial grounds, and cute farm animals.

Carroll County’s Barn Quilt Trail honors the county’s farming roots, as well simpler times of yesteryear with the quilt blocks that depict both classic patterns reflecting life in a rural society as well as original designs created by the farm owners.

This tulips in a basket quilt block design were popular in quilts in the early twentieth century and created beautiful intricate quilts that were serviceable enough to be used as bed covers.

Although the website below doesn’t provide a recommended order, we’ve developed a suggested 45-mile route that will bring you to 11 of the barns in the southern portion of the county. If you go to all 11 barns listed below, you can plan to be out and about between 90 minutes to 2 hours (which allows time for finding a good place to pull over to photograph the barns).

In between barns, keep your eyes open — you’re likely to see many more barns or cool things to photograph along the way!

Because we were daytripping in a time of COVID-19, we carried along our own picnic, but there are restaurants in New Windsor, Taneytown, and Westminster (which the tour carries you around). Speaking of these towns — their main streets are cute and quaint and worth a stroll to enjoy the small town charm!

Bixler Church Road, where one of the barns is located, also brings you past Jerusalem Lutheran Church, which we had fun photographing.

If you go a half mile beyond the barn on the barn quilt tour, you’ll find the Methodist church for which the road is named. Multiple Bixlers rest within the church yard.

Keep in mind that most, if not all, of these barns are on working farms. Don’t pull in or obstruct the drives leading to the farms. And don’t trespass. All of these are visible from the road. Which leads to our next tip — carefully consider where you pull over, as some of the roads don’t have wide shoulders and inevitably, there always seems to be a vehicle right behind you when you arrive at one of the barns!

The owner of this farm chose the Stairway to the Stars quilt block on her early 1800s bank barn to honor the quilting legacy of her great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother.

1. 1401 New Windsor Road, New Windsor, MD (Barn #12 on the barn quilt tour.)

2. 750 Green Valley Road, New Windsor, MD (Barn #11 on the barn quilt tour.)

3. 3201 Uniontown Road, Westminster, MD (Barn #12 on the barn quilt tour.)

The wedding ring quilt block is a classic pattern that has appeared in quilts for more than a century. The barn was built on existing foundations by Amish craftsmen in the 1950s.

4. 2401 Old Taneytown Road, Westminster, MD (Barn #7 on the barn quilt tour.)

5. 2221 Crouse Mill Road, Taneytown, MD (Barn #9 on the barn quilt tour.)

6. 301 East Mayberry Road, Westminster, MD (Barn #8 on the barn quilt tour.)

7. 4320 Littlestown Pike, Westminster, MD (Barn #19 on the barn quilt tour.)

8. 1733 Littlestown  Pike, Westminster, MD (Barn #18 on the barn quilt tour.)

9. 3261 Bixler Church Road, Westminster, MD (Barn #20 on the barn quilt tour.)

This Dresden Plate quilt block is installed on a beautiful brick end barn that incorporates an open brickwork pattern, built in 1843.

10. 2351 N. Old Bachman Valley Road, Westminster, MD (Barn #34 on the barn quilt tour.)

11. 1436 Sullivan ROad, Westminster, MD (Barn #6 on the barn quilt tour.)

Website: https://carrollcountytourism.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/CarrollBarnQuiltTrail2019.pdf

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