A collaborative project of Pennsylvania’s Americana Region and the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center at Kutztown University.
Make a day of it! Explore the rolling hills and quiet valleys of Northern Berks County, where a cultural treasure lies hidden in plain sight! Experience the vibrant, living folk art traditions of the region with the Barn Star Art Tour, an open-air art gallery of the agrarian countryside. If the weather agrees, put your windows down and engage all your senses as landmarks give way to landscapes. From fertile fields and front-porch swings, to swift creeks, shade trees, and laundry flapping in the breeze, brake here and there to rest and reflect. The quiet charm and dignity of the cultural landscape are symbolic of the farming communities whose art and values both shaped and were shaped by Pennsylvania’s Americana Region.
Chart a course through the cultural heritage of Pennsylvania’s Americana Region…
Tucked deep in the heart of Berks County’s farm country, you’ll discover barn stars—or “hex signs”—a uniquely American art form and the best-known symbol of the Pennsylvania Dutch.* These simple star patterns trace their lineage to the area’s German-speaking immigrant communities. Along with their barns, the Pennsylvania Dutch—or Pennsylvania Germans—similarly adorned blanket chests, quilts, tombstones, and more with this distinctive folk art, which continues to be a living tradition in the region today. Berks County is home to the highest concentration of barn star art in Pennsylvania. Inaccurately associated with protection from the supernatural, the term “hex sign” was first introduced to the area following the release of travel writer Wallace Nutting’s book Pennsylvania Beautiful in 1924, and this magical misperception continues to this day.
The birth of the hex sign was long believed to be in the mid-1800s. However, historians have discovered four-foot wooden stars set into stone walls on the gable ends of barns as far back as the late 1700s. Since the height of the hex craze in the early 20th century, progress and neglect have devastated our historic barns and their art. It is no wonder those remaining today are protected and celebrated not only as Berks County treasures but as American treasures as well.
*Pennsylvania's “Plain” people, the Amish, are sometimes thought to be the source of the signs — not so, as their religion strictly prohibits such “fancy” ornamentation.
Click here to download the free Barn Star Art Tour Map & Guide, and enjoy the ride!
