ABOUT QUILTS 

American women have expressed their identity and creativity through quilting for hundreds of years.  Apart from providing warmth and beauty, quilts have played an important role in raising support for such issues as the abolition of slavery and women's rights. In the past, quilting bees gave women the opportunity to work together, and also to support each other by sharing recipes, family news and childcare advice. Women who lived in rural areas attended quilting bees to dispel the sense of isolation they experienced.  

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Quilting was not just a woman's activity. Over the years, men have also been quilters. In fact, when they were boys, at least two presidents, Calvin Coolidge and Dwight D. Eisenhower, helped their mothers piece quilts. 

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Support for programs have been received from the Cloudsplitter Foundation, Lake Placid Education Fund, Newton Family Fund, Stewarts’ Shops, the Charles R. Wood Foundation, Essex County Arts Council’s Cultural Assistance Program Grant with funding provided by Essex County, and funds from the Decentralization Program, a regrant program of the NY State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the NY State Legislature and administered by the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts.. Tahawus Center is a program of the 501c3 Appleby Foundation, Inc.