May Issue 2000
Three Centuries Of Mecklenburg Quilts at Charlotte Museum of History, in Charlotte, NC
Before the Revolutionary War, settlers had already traveled the Great Wagon Road from Pennsylvania and arrived in the Piedmont area of the Carolinas. In 1774, Hezekiah Alexander, a celebrated signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence and a co-framer of the first North Carolina State Constitution and Bill of Rights, built the "Rock House", Mecklenburg's number one Historic Landmark, and oldest surviving structure. The Rock House, also known as the Hezekiah Alexander Homesite, located on the grounds of the Charlotte Museum of History, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It has been restored on its original site, and is filled with regional antiques. It is open to the public during museum hours, to provide visitors with an experience of the early days of Charlotte's history.
The Charlotte Museum of History originated in 1976 as the Interpretive Center for the Hezekiah Alexander Homesite. This fall, a new 30,000 square foot building will be inaugurated to tell about our city's past. In the collection of the Charlotte Museum of History are two very large, unusual broderie perse quilts (approximately 106" by 106"), made in the 1830's. When the North Carolina Quilt Documentation Project was registering old quilts in North Carolina in the 1970's, several more of these unusual quilts came to light.
Research has been done and articles written documenting the connections between these quilts. The quilts are unusual in that they are made with a single panel of printed fabric, which the quilter cut apart and rearranged in pleasing designs, appliquéing the pieces to larger backgrounds. The work is very fine, and the quilts are heavily quilted.
The Charlotte Museum of History is pleased to be able to exhibit several of these quilts in its new display space (many of those remaining are in very fragile condition, and others are in private hands). Also in the Museum's collection are several other local quilts, the oldest of which dates to around the 1780's, and the newest of which are from the early 20th century, which will also be on exhibit. The exhibit will open in early May for three months.
The Charlotte Quilters' Guild, in conjunction with Charlotte Quilt Symposium 2000, has sponsored further research into the provenance of these and other seemingly related quilts. Merikay Waldvogel, noted quilt researcher and historian, has located nearly 100 of these quilts in museums and collections throughout the eastern part of the US and in England, and is in the process of further research on their connections. Waldvogel will present a lecture on Friday evening, May 26, at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. the lecture will begin at 7pm at the C. M. McKnight Lecture Hall in the Cone Center at the university. The lecture will be highlighted by three of the actual quilts, and by slides of other quilts and textile panels. Admission is $5 at the door.
For further information call Norie Sanchez at 704/542-1524. For info about the Charlotte Museum of History call 704/568-1774.
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