Town of West Union, Highway 11 exit ramp

#204 Rising Star

Quilter Hannah Bowling Stancil

Sponsor Town of West Union

Entering the town of West Union, South Carolina, at the Highway 11 East exit ramp, one immediately sees the Rising Star quilt panel. The Town of West Union sponsored this quilt panel to welcome you to enjoy the town, its shops and hospitality. This panel is a replica of a fabric quilt made by Hannah Bowling Stancil, a resident of West Union. Hannah began quilting when she was 12 years old under her grandmother’s tutelage.

West Union, in northwest corner of the South Carolina, on the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains, was originally home to the Cherokee Indians. Under duress, they gave up the majority of their lands in 1777 under the Treaty of DeWitt’s’ Corner and in 1816 ceded their last remaining lands under the Treaties of Washington.

Two prominent individuals who played a large role in the history of the town of West Union were John Gresham, a man originally from Culpepper County, Virginia who settled in the Keowee River area in 1783, and his son Joseph Grisham. Today West Union is home to 300 inhabitants; it is described by Judge Alexander Macaulay as a “community minded town where we live, work and enjoy life with our neighbors.”