“ELIZABETH ROSEBERRY MITCHELL'S GRAVEYARD QUILT TOP MURAL"
15th Street at the Floodwall near the Transportation Center
The UK Boyd County Extension Service with the artist Denise Spaulding and ABC Quilt Alley received the Kentucky Arts Council “Arts Build Communities” 2007-2008 grant. This grant and donations from the community funded the mural of the 1836 Elizabeth Roseberry Mitchell’s Graveyard Quilt Top that is housed at the Highlands Museum & Discovery Center in Ashland, Kentucky.
Denise Spaulding, lead artist, along with Melanie Osborne and Gary Preston worked with the ABC Quilt Alley volunteers to reproduce a full quilt top mural of the Mitchell’s quilt top in Ashland, Kentucky.
Elizabeth started this quilt top in 1836 as a memorial to her family. Two sons, John V. and Mathias (Bub) Mitchell, are named on this piece; other sons were veterans of the Civil War. The graveyard on the quilt top is in Monroe County, Ohio. It was the way she wanted to make sure the family would not forget the location of the graves of their two sons as the family had moved to Kentucky.
Elizabeth was dissatisfied with the quilt top; to her it had “design flaws” and when her family grew larger there would not be room for everyone. She started another quilt using the quilt top as a “practice piece”. The Mitchell’s had eleven children.
Sarah and her sister Elizabeth helped their mother Elizabeth Roseberry Mitchell work on both the quilt top and quilt. Sarah became the caretaker of the quilt top and quilt after her mother’s death. Elizabeth Roseberry Mitchell lived in Concord, Lewis County, KY at the time of her death and is buried there. One son, Shadrach Lindsey Mitchell, his wife and two of their children are buried in the Ashland Cemetery. Shadrach L. Mitchell served in the Civil War as did his other brothers; all of them returned home safe from the war.
This piece at the Highlands Museum & Discovery Center and the finished quilt at the Kentucky Historical Society are historical artifacts in women's quilt history and are nationally known to be the only existing graveyard quilt top and quilt of this era. The 1800's era quilts like this one were made to preserve family history. The quilt top and quilt came down through the family to Nina Mitchell Biggs of Greenup County, Kentucky. In 1959 Nina donated the quilt to the Kentucky Historical Society. Nina M. Biggs passed the quilt top to her daughter Rebecca and after Rebecca died it was Elizabeth Roseberry Mitchell’s great-great-great granddaughter, Jo Ann Biggs West, who donated the quilt top in the 1980’s to the Highlands Museum in Ashland, Kentucky.
The history behind the 1836 Mitchell’s Quilt Top focuses on the family surnames: Mitchell, Roseberry, Biggs, Swan, Hughes, Stallcup, Boyd, Garrettson, Dye and McElroy.
Our quilt top mural has eleven stars that have solid fabric points; this is to represent the Mitchell’s eleven children. The quilt trail honors the tradition of quilting, quilters, and the stories behind them. Kentucky was the home of many family members for generations.
The quilt top mural measures 113 inches by 138 inches.
Linda Otto Lipsett, author of “Elizabeth Roseberry Mitchell’s Graveyard Quilt”, did five years of research and traveled across the country to find the history of the quilt. Linda made the surprising discovery that an earlier graveyard quilt top was made by Elizabeth Roseberry Mitchell. Lipsett was in the Greenup Kentucky Public Library looking up the families’ history when she learned of the quilt top that was donated to the Highlands Museum. Please read Lispett’s book for more information.
Donna Sue Groves founded the National Quilt Trail in Adams County, Ohio to honor her mother Nina Maxine Green Groves, a fifth generation quilter from West Virginia. Donna Sue said “The Elizabeth Roseberry Mitchell’s Graveyard Quilt Top is one of the most historical quilt murals on the National Quilt Trail”. Maxine Groves visited the quilt top mural on her way to West Virginia after the mural was completed said “It is awesome!!!”
The quilt top will be displayed on October 22 – 25, 2008; we do not display this quilt top very often because of its fragile condition. It will be awhile before it is on display again. We have started a “SAVE OUR QUILT TOP” fund at the Highlands Museum & Discovery Center. Donations may be sent to the museum.
Reference: “The Elizabeth Roseberry Mitchell‘s Graveyard Quilt”, author Linda Otto Lipsett, and the Highlands Museum and Discovery Center, 1620 Winchester Avenue, Ashland, Kentucky 41101, 606-329-8888.
ABC Quilt Alley is part of the Kentucky Quilt Trail & National Quilt Trail.