"Down by the Old Mill Stream connects history, culture, and technology to quilts in Rhode Island and details developments in textile production that affected materials available to quiltmakers. The essay in Part I explore technological developments and textile production - spinning, weaving, dyeing, and printing - as illustrated in quilt fabrics.

Additional essays connect Rhode Island quilts to the state's historic, cultural, and social heritage, exploring the stylistic aspects of quilts made by various ethnic groups and the power of quilts to connect generations. Part II highlights thirty quilts, dating from the mid-eighteenth century through 1935. These vignettes explore such topics as shipwrecks that brought calicoes to Block Island and a quilt made by a suspected female vampire."--BOOK JACKET.