It is not so easy to teach an old dog new tricks – but maybe you can. We studied cryptocurrency and we are ready! You can now pay your bill at Big Mill B&B with Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrency can’t be denied; it is already here and we want to make things convenient for our guests.

We think Cryptocurrency is fascinating and we welcome your Bitcoin!

Cryptocurrency will be more and more acceptable and we want to be at the forefront of this trend. We made this decision partly because of the advantage cryptocurrency offers in the legal international trade. For us, hosting international guests is a booming market.

We will now accept Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Dogecoin, Litecoin, USD Coin and DAI. We plan to add to this list in the coming months.

Guests who wish to pay via cryptocurrency will be sent an invoice to pay in crypto prior to arrival … BUT we still like the old standbys — Visa, Master Card and greenbacks!

If you are dying to spend your profits from cryptocurrency – now you can do it at Big Mill B&B!

Big Mill B&B Extended Stay Lodging. 1607 Big Mill Road, Williamston, NC 27892. Tel. 252-792-8787 cell is 252-799-8787, info@bigmill.com and www.bigmill.com

DISTANCES to Hospitals and Towns from Big Mill B&B in Williamston, NC:
Greenville, NC: Vidant Hospital, ECU School of Medicine – 27 miles (country roads)
Washington, NC: Vidant Hospital, Ridgewood Rehab, River Trace Rehab – 21 miles (easy 4-lane drive)
Windsor, NC: Vidant Hospital, Brian Center, Three Rivers Health & Rehab Center – 17 miles (east 4-lane drive)
Windsor, NC: Bertie Rural Health – 20 miles (easy 4-lane drive)
Ahoskie, NC: Vidant – 37  miles (easy 4-lane drive)
Tarboro, NC: Vidant Edgecomb Hospital, Parkwood Village Retirement Center, – 33 miles (easy 4-lane drive)
Plymouth, NC: Domtar Paper – 30 miles (easy 4-lane drive)
Edenton, NC: Vidant Chowan County – 37 miles (easy 4-lane drive)
and North Carolina’s Outer Banks!!! are 85 miles

Come to Big Mill B&B just outside the little town of Williamston, NC and enjoy the benefits of home while away from home for your next traveling job or contract.

Old Tobacco Barn at Moratock Park with “Tobacco Times” Quilt block

Quilt trails are popping up everywhere the U.S.A. and Canada. You can see them all over the mountains of North Carolina and now we have a trail here in eastern North Carolina. The first barn quilt in Martin County (part of the Tar-Roanoke River Trail) was on the Pack House barn at Big Mill Bed & Breakfast. We now have 12 quilts installed in our county – and more to come.

Quilt Trail in Martin County – Eastern North Carolina Crossed Canoes, Four Planes, Shoo Fly, Oak Memories, Tobacco Times, Family Memories, Court House Steps, Bow Ties, Oak Leaf, Train, Fish Tales & LaMoyne Star

These quilts are more than just pictures painted on a barn. They each tell a story – who made them, why they were made, how they were made. They were created with love and not just for comfort. They were painstakingly created and each is beautiful in its own way.

The Martin County, NC, Arts Council joined the Franklin County, NC, Arts Council Tar River Quilt Trail and now it is the Quilt Trails of the Tar and Roanoke Rivers. Barney Conway and Martin County Travel and Tourism Authority have been instrumental in making this happen.

HOVER OVER PHOTO TO ADD TO PINTEREST

I heard about these Barn Quilts some years ago and knew I had to have one honoring my mother, Chloe. I already had the perfect barn here at Big Mill B&B that my father built in 1935. How fitting: Ops made the barn and Chloe Lavenia made the quilt. She made many quilts, but I picked the one she and her friends made for the Bicentennial in 1976. Of course, it is red, white, and blue. Some of the quilts are painted directly on the barns. The Barn Quilt at Big Mill was painted on wooden squares and then hoisted up onto the barn. You can see the finished quilt on Chloe’s Blog – and, of course, on the barn.

Map of Martin County’s Barn Quilts

Sad Note: The Fish Tales Quilt that was at the Cypress Grill is no longer there. The wonderful old Cypress Grill Burned in 2018. We lost a real treasure.

FOR MORE INFORMATION about the Tar-Roanoke River Quilt Trail:

Martin County Travel & Tourism Authority, Williamston NC 27892
Phone: 252-792-6605
Big Mill Bed & Breakfast, Williamston, NC 27892 tel. 252-792-8787

Barn Quilt in eastern NC at Big Mill B&B in Williamston

I used to go to Quilting Bees with my mother when I was a child. I would play under the quilt all by myself. There were no other children.

The ladies made such beautiful works of art. Mother would sew the pieces of fabric together and let me help. When it was all pieced together, we put it in the frame along with the backing and the batting. Then Mother’s friends would come for several days until the quilt was quilted. My father used to make cotton and wool batts for his mother to quilt. I wish I had gotten him to show me how.

In 1976, everyone had caught Bicentennial Fever and felt patriotic so Mother (also named Chloe) made a quilt of red, white and blue. Usually she just used scraps – scrap quilts are actually my favorites. But this time, she bought the fabric so that she could have just the right colors.

The Original Patchwork Quilt and pattern for the Barn Quilt at Big Mill
(photo by Martin Brossman)

When I first  read about the American Barn Quilt Trail, I knew a barn quilt would be perfect here on the farm. I have the perfect barn, a Pack House Barn that my father built in 1935 to house the mules and store carts, wagons and corn. Today, it is part of Big Mill Bed & Breakfast and the perfect home for my Barn Quilt.

 Barn Quilts are made of plywood boxes, painted – then mounted on the barn

Barn Quilts and the American Quilt Trail project started in Ohio in 2001 when Donna Sue Graves painted a quilt square on her family’s barn to pay homage to her mother, a quilter. The American Barn Quilt movement has become the fastest growing grassroots public arts project in the USA and Canada in history. When I heard about this project, I assumed I’d have to paint it myself. And it would take me forever.

Then I heard about the Tar River Quilt Trail that is part of the Franklin, NC Arts Council. Charles Powell is a driving force of this project. I had to pick a pattern that no one else on the Trail had. Then the folks at the Arts Council made the boxes for the quilt and Charles drew off  the pattern.

These boards were primed with special paint and sent to Kim Young to paint. So much work goes into these quilts before they are mounted on the barn! All these folks are volunteers and they do an amazing job.

I visited Kim Young to see my quilt being painted. Now, the Big Mill Quilt in Williamston is part of the Tar River Quilt Trail and is the most easterly of the NC Barn Quilts. The Greenville Daily Reflector wrote about it. Be sure to view the photo gallery. Unfortunately, you have to be a paid subscriber to read the whole article, but I was delighted to see interest from the media in this wonderful NC cultural arts and heritage project.

Chloe Tuttle watches as Kim Young paints. That’s Tim Young on the ladder.

Quilts are made up of squares and the quilts on the barns and other buildings across the USA are replicas of these squares. They can be all sizes – the one at Big Mill Bed & Breakfast is 8 feet by 8 feet. It was painted on 4 foot square plywood blocks and then mounted on the barn.

Kim & Tim Young, Don Beach and Pat Noles – The Big Mill B&B Barn Quilt Crew

The American Quilt Trail has spread to 48 states and one of the largest concentration is right here in North Carolina – with most of the barn quilts being in the mountains. So far the quilt at Big Mill B&B in Williamston is the most easterly one in North Carolina.

The Tar River runs through 16 counties and Martin county is one of them. Actually, the Tar River runs all the way to Dare and Hyde Counties in the Outer Banks — I had no clue!

Here are a few of the Quilt patterns you will see along the Tar River Quilt Trail     (Photos by Kim Young)

Folks can get maps of the different Quilt Trails in different states and as they travel, they can detour and see all the quilts and read the stories. What a great way to travel.

Be sure to take Big Mill Road off US Highway 17 and come see Miss Chloe’s LaMoyne Star on the barn at the old home place at Big Mill Bed & Breakfast.

FOR MORE INFORMATION about the Tar River Quilt Trail or to get your own Barn Quilt contact the Franklin County Arts Council.

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DISTANCES from the BIG MILL B&B BARN QUILT:

90 miles east of Raleigh, NC
103 miles south of Norfolk, VA
94 miles west of Nags Head, NC
145 miles north of Wilmington, NC

At Big Mill we just can’t waste or throw anything away that might have a second life. Recycling soap is such a good idea!

Big Mill B&B saves used soap and sends it to Clean the World; they are the world’s largest high-volume soap recyclers.

In the U.S. we throw away over a million bars of soap every day. “Each day nearly 9,000 children die from diseases that can be prevented by up to 62% through regular hand washing with bar soap,” a sad statistic from Clean the World.

While we are a small contributor, Clean the World has some big name hotel chains that participate: Marriott, Caesar’s of Las Vegas, Walt Disney World, Harrah’s and the Sands of Las Vegas … and of course, Big Mill Bed and Breakfast here in eastern North Carolina. It takes many villages.

Clean the World has made quite an impact – Fox News did a video interview with the project’s Director that explains the mission and the process.

Since its inception, Clean the World has distributed over 21,827,093 bars soap to dozens of countries worldwide including many who have had natural disasters like Haiti and hurricane victims in the United States. Clean the World is a natural disaster First Responder and as CBS put it, “A little Soap Makes a Big Difference.”

Since 2009, over thirteen million children have died from diseases that could have been preventable with proper hygiene.

Big Mill joined Clean the World in their early days and our used soap has been remade into 485 bars of soap. We collect soap from anywhere we find it – our friends save it and we mail it off to Orlando. The folks here at our local post office don’t have to ask me what is in the box anymore.

There are only six bed and breakfasts in North Carolina currently participating. I’m hoping we can get more. If you are interested, you can host a Clearly Natural Soap Drive for your church or school. If you just have a few bars or slivers of soap, I will gladly add them to the Big Mill box of soaps that we recycle.

Global Hand Washing Day is every year on October 15th. We are ready!

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Fox News-Detroit does a segment called “throw the dart.” Wherever the dart lands – that town gets a call. Well, it landed on Williamston, NC, and they called the Martin County Travel & Tourism Authority.

There was a fun video of small town meets big city. 

My nephew Barney Conway took the call. And, of course, he did a stellar job. It’s like they called Andy of Mayberry and got Charles Kuralt. Our whole town is a-buzz! We are still talking about it. Update: Barney is now the Tourism Director!

Let me know what you think. Doesn’t it make you want to head to North Carolina? And, of course, Big Mill B&B got an honorable mention.

Big Mill Bed & Breakfast 252-792-8787

At the celebration dinner at King’s Daughter Inn our outgoing president Frank Salvo of White Gate Inn (in Asheville), standing in for Ms. Paula Deen, presented the Inn of the Year award to Chloe Tuttle, innkeeper and owner of Big Mill Bed & Breakfast in Williamston, NC.

The President’s Award went to Rachel Reid of Andon-Reid Inn (in Waynesville, NC).  It’s pretty obvious — we had a good time at the festivities.

North Carolina Bed & Breakfast & Inns is a great organization and it just celebrated its 25th anniversary. If you see the NCBBI logo beside an inn’s name, you know this inn has been inspected and is held to the highest standards. Big Mill Bed and Breakfast is proud to belong to this wonderful group.

Photos by Chloe Tuttle of Big Mill B&B 252-792-8787

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