Bicentennial Quilt
Maple Street School Fourth Graders
In 1976, a group of fourth-grade students and their adult helpers created and sewed this quilt under the direction of teacher Gwen Peters (now McGrath). Peters, who taught at Maple Street School from 1971 to 1996, conceived of the quilt as a fundraising project to help the class pay for a field trip to Old Sturbridge Village, where they hoped to enjoy a meal at the Bullard Tavern.
The students selected historical people, places, and events as subjects for their quilt squares. After researching their topics, they designed their own squares and chose from fabrics that Peters had collected. Mothers and community volunteers sewed the individual squares, and Peters assembled them into the finished quilt. The students completed the project by tying the quilt top to its backing.
The quilt was later raffled, and the winning recipient generously returned it to Peters. In 2025, Peters donated the quilt to the Hopkinton Historical Society, where it now helps preserve and share the history of this unique community project.
From August through December, the quilt will be on display at Hopkinton Historical Society as part of its 2026 exhibit, “Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times: Hopkinton and the American Revolution.” The museum is open Thursdays and Fridays 9-4 pm and Saturdays 9-1 pm. More information is available at www.hopkintonhistory.org.
Many thanks to Heather Mitchell, Director of the Hopkinton Historical Society, for allowing us to print this information. The quilt is a very unusual one inasmuch as it was designed by students and the blocks sewn by quilters of the community for the 1976 Bicentennial Celebration!
To learn more about Bicentennial Quilts, see the new book Commemorative American Quilts by Sandra Sider, foreword by Pamela Weeks, published by Schiffer Publishing.
Hope you enjoyed seeing this quilt as much as we did!
Patricia L. Cummings
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