Jacob's Ladder

About this block

This is a nine-patch block built from squares and half-square triangles, usually pieced in strong light/dark contrast so the diagonal "ladder" reads clearly across a finished quilt. Its name comes from the biblical story of Jacob's dream of a ladder reaching to heaven. Earlier writers, including Marie Webster in 1915 and Ruth Finley in 1929, described the block as dating to the pre-Revolutionary period, but quilt historian Barbara Brackman later found no surviving example of the pattern older than the early 20th century, correcting that romanticized early claim. Oral tradition also ties this block to the Underground Railroad quilt code.