View Collections | Browse Cultural Objects | Browse Oral History
The intricacy of the blue and white pattern balances the red sections.
Images (click to enlarge)
Coverlets, Cultural Objects

Federal City Coverlet (red, navy, white)

People
Maker/Creator: Mary Ann "Polly" Slusher Quesenberry
Date
1855-1900
Places
Shady Grove, Indian Valley District
Material/Medium

Wool, cotton

Specifications
  • Pattern: Federal City 
  • Colors: red, blue, white
  • Dimensions: 93 x 72 inches
  • Two panels (36 inches wide) joined with “wrap over” hand-stitching
  • Pattern nicely matched between the panels
Description

This overshot coverlet was woven by Mary Ann “Polly” Quesenberry using red wool as the dominant color for the Federal City pattern.  The coverlet was passed down in her family for more than a hundred years.

Keywords
Overshot coverlet
Bio Sketch

Mary Ann Slusher (1835-1936) was the daughter of Stephen Slusher  and Charlotte Hylton Slusher. She married James Quesenberry.

Notes

James Quesenberry fought in the Civil War.  On the day he returned home, Polly was in her garden harvesting cabbage.  In her shock and delight at seeing her husband, she flung her arms in the air and lost her knife . The family searched the garden later but never recovered the knife.