Expert on Virginia Quilts to Speak at K&Q Museum on March 9. (March 2008)

Paula Golden, noted expert on Virginia quilts, and co-author of the handsomely illustrated Quilts of Virginia, 1607–1899, will give a lecture and slide show on Virginia quilts at the King and Queen County Courthouse Tavern Museum on March 9th at 3 pm. The public is invited and there is no charge. After the lecture, Mrs. Golden will sign her book, which will available for purchase at the Museum. Mrs. Golden has been selected as a Teacher of the Year by The Professional Quilter Magazine.

The lecture will keynote the Museum’s new exhibit on Quilts and Spreads of King and Queen County before 1930. Two King and Queen quilts, one owned by Caroline Jones and the other by Carolyn Lowry, are pictured in the book and will be part of the Museum’s exhibit. The Museum’s exhibit, which will be open to the public until June 1, has been put together by a committee headed by Beth Hayes of Bruington, a member of the Virginia Consortium of Quilters that published the book.

Mrs. Jones’ quilt, made shortly before 1820 by Catherine Tompkins, was left along with the bed for which it was made to her niece, Sarah Tompkins Browne. The quilt and bed have remained at Mrs. Jones’ home, Canterbury, since Miss Browne married Robert Temple Gwathmey in 1829. Mrs. Lowry’s quilt was made by friends of a Confederate soldier Atwood Cluverious Walker about 1865, and has remained in the family of Mrs. Lowry of Walkerton ever since.