First Quilt Trail on the West Coast
Bohren Farm
Have you ever wondered about the big painted quilt blocks displayed on local barns and businesses in Tillamook County? They’re part of the Tillamook County Quilt Trail, the first quilt trail on the West coast.
The trail is a partnership between a coalition of local citizens and businesses to identify historic barns and other buildings in Tillamook County, enhance them with large painted wooden quilt blocks, share the history of the dairy farms and quilts through a self-guided tour for visitors, and to celebrate Tillamook’s rural heritage.
The barn pictured here is called the Bohren Farm and is displaying a pattern block called Lone Star. Here is the description posted in the Tillamook County Quilt Trail map:
Bohren Farm - One of the earliest owners was Peter Morgan. He also was part-owner of the sailing ship Morning Star, whose replica sits in front of the Cheese Factory. Tom Hyder later purchased the farm. Tom grew barley on the farm and made moonshine. In 1949, Gottlieb Bohren and his sons bought the farm from Tom Bohren, a Swiss immigrant, who had lived on the farm next door. During a remodel of the barn, hundreds of whiskey bottles were found under the floorboards of the barn. The original farm house was just north of the barn, but blew down in the 1950s. Gottlieb’s brother Albert was in the house at the time but came out ok. The Obrist family bought this farm from the Bohrens in the mid-1990s, because they felt the need to expand their home dairy, located on Trask River Road, when all three of their sons decided to return home and work with their father, Richard Obrist. (Lone Star)
