Last spring, Jody Horton came to Oregon to survey the Tillamook forests for signs of the marbled murrelet, a seasonal job that came with a work shift starting at 2 a.m. and ending about 9. Crazy hours for most anyone, but not Horton, who, seabird duties done, made his way down a country road where he learned the art of weaving at a museum even some locals don’t know.

The 25-year-old Tennessean isn’t sure how he learned of the Latimer Quilt & Textile Center, but once he did, it immediately caught his attention. Horton’s grandmother taught him how to sew; his dad taught him to knit; so his interest in fiber arts was piqued at a young age. Latimer didn’t disappoint. “I literally walked in and said, ‘This is the coolest place ever.’”     

Housed in a 1930s schoolhouse on Wilson River Loop Road a short jog from Highway 101 near Tillamook, the Latimer Quilt & Textile Center offers changing exhibits featuring artists from the Northwest; an auditorium; a research library with an extensive collection of patterns; a climate-controlled repository with 400 to 500 quilts, the oldest dating from the 1700s; 300 to 400 textiles; and a small collection of coverlets.

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“We’re a working museum,” said Carol Weber, president of the board of directors. “On Tuesdays, you’ll go in and the fiber artists are there. Some are spinning, some are working on their rugs, some may be knitting. Friday, the rug hookers are there in the morning. There is a separate room just for weavers, and on Tuesday and Friday, you will hear them clacking. We also have a loom set up that people can weave on if they want to practice.”

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That was where Horton spent his time, not only learning to weave, but also acquiring a new vocabulary.

“They don’t have a formal teacher, really,” Horton said when I caught up with him by phone at his home in Tennessee. “I just kind of figured it out, partly on my own, but I had guidance from some of the people there.” They taught him how to thread the heddles — cords or wires through which threads are passed on a loom — and how to sley the reed – threading each yarn on the loom’s comb-like reed, Horton said. “They were all so nice, so generous with their time and expertise and super fun to talk to.”

The center grew out of the benevolence of the local Latimer family, who originally donated the land for the school in 1892. In 1985, after the property was no longer in use by the school district and reverted to the family, the Latimers again donated it, this time to the Tillamook County Pioneer Museum.

According to the Latimer center website, “Clara Fairfield, an employee of the Tillamook County Pioneer Museum, saw this as an opportunity to fill a need for a textile center in the Pacific Northwest; a place for fiber artisans to demonstrate, teach and produce their crafts. In 1991, the Friends of Latimer Quilt & Textile Center was formed and assumed responsibility for the daily operation of the Center.” Today, the center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is one of 10 working fiber arts museums in the United States, said board member Marilyn Roossinck.  

“People have come in and done their thesis on the center,” Weber said. “A lot of people like to find old patterns. We do ‘bed turnings’ where they set up two, 8-foot tables and push them together and we’ll lay out 12 to 15 quilts. We talk about the top one and give its history, push it back, and talk about the next one. People will call and say, ‘We want to look at quilts from the ‘40s or just crazy quilts.’ … Last summer, we did about five turnings in an hour for 55 visitors. It was a big group, but they’re always fun because they’re all quilters, and they know a lot, and then they’ve got their phones, so they can share the quilts. So, it’s a good interaction thing, and we enjoy it thoroughly.”

The center seems to be particularly popular with visitors from Canada and the East Coast – though no one knows why — but visitors have come from as far as Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and beyond.  

One day when the center was closed to visitors, Weber arrived to find a group from Lithuania. “I let them in, and we had a great visit,” she said. “In July, we had a bus tour of people from all over the world on their way to the big Sisters quilt show. People say, ‘It’s such a warm and cozy place. If I lived here, I’d be here every day.’ We get that comment over and over.”

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Even so, the center remains something of an insider’s secret, known and loved by fiber art afficionados, but to others, even locals, largely unknown, said Roossinck, emeritus professor of virus ecology at Pennsylvania State University. Roossinck retired to Oceanside about five years ago, knowing she wanted to devote more time to fiber crafts, but having no idea the Latimer center existed.

“It was a huge bonus for me,” said Roossinck. “I’ve learned to weave since I’ve been here. I organize dye days, where we make up big vats of dye and people will dye things. I think those of us who are involved with the center talk it up. I often ask people if they live here if they’ve been to the Latimer and they say, ‘No,’ and I say, ‘You should be ashamed of yourself. This is one of the great assets of the county.’”

New manager Elliana Diamond is working on ways to draw more locals, but she knows it might not be easy. An open house in September with free admission drew six to 10 people, she said. “That was it. People tell me all the time, ‘Oh my gosh, you guys are in the middle of nowhere.’”

Diamond is new to her post as center manager, but her history with the place is long and involved. Nearly 20 years ago, her grandmother sat on the Latimer board of directors and for much of her youth, Diamond attended 4-H day camps there, learning to weave, knit, and make baskets and paper.

“When the board brought me on, I said, ‘OK, we are going to do more to get our name out there,’” Diamond said. “We’re going to get publicity out there. We’re going to get the Facebook page up and running. We’re going to do Instagram.… The digital age is not going away, right? Good or bad, but it is what it is.”

Diamond has other ideas for bringing the center into the 21^st century, including simple upgrades like point of sale (POS) apps for checkout in the gift shop, and virtual sign-in sheets for guests. She’d also like to start a YouTube page with talks by local historians and fiber artists about the center and its history. Classes, both in-person and online through cloud-based communication platforms, like Zoom, are another possibility. The presentations would likely not only increase exposure, but also bring new sources of revenue.

But any significant growth could also hurt the tranquil feel that comes with an old schoolhouse on a country road that beckons strangers from afar to step inside and learn a craft.

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“It’s a big concern of mine, especially on days when we’re really slammed in here,” Diamond said. “Today, people are in here doing rug hooking. People love watching it be done. They get to interact … they’re just having fun. One person comes in and they ask a question, and it turns into a wonderful conversation. It’s amazing to watch. But I do worry. We want people to come here and know more and learn and enjoy, but at the same time, are we going to get so big that we are going to lose that warm and fuzzy feeling? I would hate to lose that.”