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Back in July 1776, John Adams predicted that future generations of Americans would long celebrate their independence with “Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other.” Had Steve Prince been around that summer, doubtless Adams would have included the humble quilt in that long list of commemorations.
Steve Prince unveils the Great American Birthday Quilt in Colonial Williamsburg. Photo courtesy of Steve Prince
The Great American Birthday Quilt
Prince is the mastermind behind the Great American Birthday Quilt, a 500-foot patchwork now on display in the Visitor’s Center at Colonial Williamsburg. For the past year, about 800 creators from all 50 states have contributed more than 2,000 patriotic blocks to this quilt. Students from the Youth Volunteer Corps have spent months piecing the squares together into one massive quilt celebrating the nation's semiquincentennial.
Click on the pictures below for a closer look!
Left: Students from the Youth Volunteer Corps help to assemble the Great American Birthday Quilt. Right: Nora Sheldon with the Youth Volunteer Corps holds up one of the submissions for the Birthday Quilt. Photos courtesy of Steve Prince"
“One of my goals with this project has been to get people to tell their stories,” says Prince, who is the director of engagement and distinguished artist in residence at the Muscarelle Museum of Art at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Quilting, he says, is a way to share those narratives through artistic language that is both cathartic and transformative. “Stories are what connect us; they stitch us together into a communal body, generation after generation.”
Capturing America's Stories
In 2025, Prince partnered with Visit Williamsburg and VA250 to capture the stories of America one quilt square at a time. Through this collaboration, citizens from across the country were invited to create blocks that represent what America means to them.
These are the stories of the people. People like Julianna Price of Indiana, whose great-grandmother was a professional quilter in Fort Wayne during the early 1900s. “It was through her quilting that she was able to help her family through the Depression Era of the 1930s,” says Price, who submitted a block featuring a variation of the traditional Indiana Star with an embroidered Indiana state flag in the center.
Traditional Indiana Star quilt block designed by Julianna Price. Photo courtesy of Steve Prince
In Oregon, Mary Pat Parks has been quilting for nearly three decades and has made more than 25 quilts, one for each of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, plus a few more. The opportunity to participate in the 250th Great American Birthday Quilt captured her imagination. “I have such a great appreciation of my country and what it stands for, for the freedom we all have,” says Parks. “Quilting harkens back to the early days of our country. They were a source of comfort and a way to show love to each other and add beauty to the home. We need to remember and celebrate those things.”
Mary Pat Parks chose patriotic red, white, and blue for her quilt block. Photo courtesy of Mary Pat Parks
Indeed, the celebration began in earnest on April 11 when the crew at Visit Williamsburg, Prince, and a few thousand friends and volunteers unveiled the completed quilt in a day of festivities at Colonial Williamsburg. All 500 feet were rolled out in Merchant's Square, where visitors could get an up-close look at the collective memories, heritage, and aspirations stitched together in fabric and thread.
Volunteers paraded the birthday quilt through the streets of Colonial Williamsburg on April 11, 2026. Photo courtesy of Steve Prince
Out of Many, One
In remarks at the big reveal, Visit Williamsburg executive director Edward Harris said, “The American story belongs to everyone.” As participants prepared to parade the quilt through historic Duke of Gloucester Street, he reflected on the timeless quality of quilting and its ability to bring generations together. “Every stitch, every color, every design represents a voice, and it is precisely those voices that make people love America so deeply. The beauty of this project lies in its diversity and unity.”
Click on the pictures below for a closer look!
Left: The author's contribution to the Great American Birthday Quilt. Photo courtesy Erin Rodewald. Right: Guests of Colonial Williamsburg viewing the Great American Birthday Quilt.Photo courtesy of Steve Prince
That sentiment is reminiscent of yet another John Adams contribution to America’s founding history: the new nation’s motto E Pluribus Unum, meaning “Out of Many, One.” Hours after the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress, the esteemed body tasked Adams and fellow patriots Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson with designing the first official Seal. Their original design did not win the day, but the motto, like the nation, has remained these 250 years.
Quilts embody E Pluribus Unum—many pieces forming a single, unified whole. “Quilting traditions are born of scarcity and ingenuity,” says Prince, noting that every culture on the planet has a quilt-making past. “The quilt is a good metaphor for America—a bunch of patches whose broken pieces gain meaning when organized in a communal whole.”
Click on the pictures below for a closer look!
Individual quilt squares from The Great American Birthday Quilt. Photos courtesy of Steve Prince
The Great American Birthday Quilt will remain on display at the Colonial Williamsburg Visitor Center for the public’s viewing enjoyment throughout the semiquincentennial. In the new year, it will be divided into sections that will circulate among local schools and businesses. Ultimately, Prince hopes to incorporate the birthday quilt into an even larger project, a mile-long quilt marking the rich and storied history of Virginia's Historic Triangle—Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown—what many people consider to be the birthplace of America.
For a list of other activities to celebrate America's 250th, check out PieceWork's Needleworker’s Ultimate Resource Guide to Celebrating America’s 250th