FORT ATKINSON, Wis. — Barn quilts can be found on farms all over Wisconsin.

The colorful designs are often perched high atop barns or buildings on family farms. Often, these designs are things that people would stumble upon by accident.

In Jefferson County, they are now part of an organized, self-guided tour.

Recently, the Jefferson County Tourism Council complied a list of around 40 barn quilts scattered throughout the county and mapped them out into an interactive map available on their website.

Tourism Council Director Katie Newcomb said the map opens people’s eyes to the history that exists locally.

“The barn quilt tour allows people to discover what Jefferson County is all about. It really adds to the agricultural roots that are here,” said Newcomb.

The project was inspired, in part, by Tawney Hadler, a senior at Fort Atkinson High School.

Hadler said she’s always had a passion for art. Recently, she began painting and selling barn quilts for local families.

Now, after creating more than 20 of them, she and her family suggested they be compiled into a tour.

“I ended up selling barn quilts mainly to people in the area and from there, we started to recognize how many barn quilts there are just in the county and all over the place here,” said Hadler. “We started keeping track of them and there ended up being close to 100 of them, actually.”

To learn more about the barn quilt tour, including the map, you can visit the Jefferson County Tourism website.