America's Tapestry

'America's Tapestry' premieres June 19 through September 6, 2026 at the Muscarelle Museum of Art at William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, just in time for the nation's 250th birthday. The project marks the anniversary through 13 original tapestries, one for each of the original colonies, that depict lesser-known stories of the American Revolution, communally stitched by volunteers from New Hampshire to Georgia, including William & Mary students. Virginia's panel, stitched at the Muscarelle, tells the story of the lead mines in Wythe County, which supplied material for musket balls for the Continental Army and were worked by enslaved, indentured and immigrant labor. Other panels honor a Haitian militia unit in Georgia, the Edenton Tea Party in North Carolina, and figures such as Hannah Bunce Watson and Rebecca Young. The project is the brainchild of textile scholar Stefan Romero, who drew inspiration from 'The Great Tapestry of Scotland,' and is supported by the Coby Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. The Muscarelle, which houses one of the oldest campus-based art collections in the United States, will host a stitching showcase and panel discussion on June 21, with stitching workshops in the following weeks. After the show closes in September, the tapestries begin a three-year national tour.