Quilting Our Heritage

Looking Back on Our Heritage Quilting Club members have researched and highlighted the history of African American churches in Giles County, Tennessee. Creating quilts that depict more than 60 churches, quilters have memorialized the churches, showing their significance for Black communities. The four quilts are displayed at Wolf Gap, an education center in Giles County.

“Full of care and incredible detail, these quilts are truly a piece of Giles County history,” said Kelly Hamlin, Wolf Gap's founder and executive director. “We are so very grateful to the members of the Looking Back on our Heritage Club for their generosity in allowing us to display these quilts on loan.”

The exhibit is called Quilting Our Heritage and has been on display at Wolf Gap since November 2021. Previously, the quilts had been only available to the public for a few days in February, during Black History Month programs.

“We would love to have as many people as possible to see and appreciate the quilts because the quilting club put so much work into them and because the quilts are such a work of art and history,” Hamlin said. “They brought all quilts, and we were able to inventory all churches on them.”

Wolf Gap presents the history of the churches as part of the exhibit.

“More than 60 churches are featured on the quilts,” Hamlin said. “Some of them are still in operation. Some of them have been in operation since the 1860s. Some of the churches have been in operations since 1866, the year after the Civil War. Some of them have operated since 1868 and still have congregations and are still active churches.”

One of the churches the exhibit features is St. Rebecca Primitive Baptist Church. Established in 1855, it is among the oldest Primitive Baptist churches in the area. It was founded before the war as an enslaved congregation, and Rev. Calvin Gardner served as its first leader. His son, Rev. Matt Gardner, was also an early pastor. Matt Gardner’s son, Rev. Raymond Gardner, oversaw the completion of the current building, erected in 1948.

Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church was founded in 1867. George Ballentine and brothers Daniel and David Coleman founded the Ebenezer congregation immediately following the Civil War. The present-day church is the fourth building standing on the original site.

Round Hill Missionary Baptist was established in 1868 in northern Giles County. The church was founded by blacksmith Green Edmondson, who recruited Rev. David Anderson, an esteemed pastor from Nashville.

Another church featured in the display is Friendship African Methodist Episcopal Church, founded in 1883. The original church lot held a small cabin, serving as a school, church and Masonic Hall. The present-day building was completed in 1915.

“We have featured some of those histories because it’s really significant,” Hamlin said. “The churches were a huge part of building the African American community coming out of slavery. The churches were a community center for people and still are. The fact that they could survive until the present day is incredible.”

The quilts include churches that have opened just in the last two decades, as well as churches that are no longer open.

“And that’s one of the ways the quilts are historical records,” Hamlin said. “Members of the quilting club researched and quilted churches you could not see anymore, and these churches were a big part of people’s lives in the past.”

The quilts show incredible character and dedication to preserving history. 

“It's such a unique set of work – four quilts, and every bit of them hand stitched. Not only are the quilts impressive for what they are as quilts, but they are also impressive because of the artistry that goes into them. Different quilt club members took different churches to design, and you can see each artist’s style in each one of the churches they did. It’s a work of art. There’s nothing else like this in the world. But they are also a historical record. They are an inventory of historic African American churches in Giles County, some of them still exist and some of them don’t. The quilts are depictions of these buildings. The fact that the club members put the time and effort into this work shows they are not just buildings, they are places that were part of people’s lives and still are a part of people’s lives.”

The project is a testament to the importance of these churches for the community.

“The thought and work that went into every stitch and every design of these churches are incredible,” Hamlin said.

Visit Wolf Gap to view the exhibit. Wolf Gap is located at 2718 Tarpley Shop Rd., Pulaski, Tennessee.

Photographs by: Fruitful Roots Photography