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Sandy Mush Quilt Gallery: Ethel Ratcliff Langford

Double Wedding Band Quilt

Quilter: Ethel Ratcliff Langford
Quilt Name: Double Wedding Ring
Quilt Created: Late 1990’s
On Loan by: Glenn Ratcliff & Terri Wells

When I see this quilt, I think of my Aunt Ethel who was the quilter and a great storyteller, with a wonderful memory of family history. She was the one who told me of her mother, my grandmother, Maude Cook’s journey through Big Sandy Mush as a young girl in the 1880’s. Aunt Ethel retold the story her mother, Maude, had told her of travelling on a horse-drawn wagon from Haywood County across the steep rugged road into Big Sandy Mush. “I was scared to death coming off that mountain,” said Maude. They travelled through Big Sandy Mush on their way to settle in Alexander on what is now called old #20. Now I live on the very road in Big Sandy Mush that my grandmother, Maude Cook Ratcliff, once travelled as a young girl with her family to a new farm and home. Across from our home and farm on Willow Creek Rd., we often see people pull over and get out of their cars to “get their bearings” after they descend the steep mountain road into Big Sandy Mush, and I think of that young girl who was “scared to death.” ~ Glenn Ratcliff

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