Clarissa's Garden and School

As I mentioned in a recent post, I live in a town in northern Illinois that was established in the mid-1800s. 

Sometime in the 1840s, Lyman Wilmot and his wife Clarissa came here from the east coast to settle on 240 acres of land. (At the time, land in this area cost as little as $1.25 an acre).  Part of this land was donated by the Wilmot family in 1848 to build a one-room schoolhouse. Education was important for these early settlers and building schools for their children was often high on the list of priorities when a community was built. Clarissa Wilmot became the first school teacher at the new school. That school no longer exists but a replica of an old schoolhouse was later built for the town's small historical village. An elementary school now stands in place of Clarissa's original school.

My antique Schoolhouse quilt.

For the town's 150th settlement celebration, a local teacher had her class plant a prairie garden with an abundance of native plants common during the 1800s in memory of Clarissa Wilmot. When my daughter was in middle school, we drove past this garden every day. One day it hit me that I really should  make a small quilt to honor Clarissa and her garden and the contribution she made to our town's educational system. It turned into this little quilt with a simple floral motif - 

My Clarissa's Garden pattern is available here.

Have a great Weekend!  Stop by next Wednesday, August 30, for another exciting giveaway!