South Union is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

located in

Logan County Logan County is the name of ten current counties and one former county in the United States: * Logan County, Arkansas * Logan County, Colorado * Logan County, Idaho (1889–1895) * Logan County, Illinois * Logan County, Kansas * Logan County, K ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

, United States.

History

A large share of South Union's original inhabitants were

Shakers The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, more commonly known as the Shakers, are a Millenarianism, millenarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian sect founded in England and then organized in the Unit ...

. Their South Union village was established in 1807 and lasted until 1922. During this period, the Shakers constructed 200 buildings, worked 6,000 acres (2,400 ha) of farmland, and produced garden seed, fruit preserves, brooms, baskets, rugs, linen, hats, bonnets and silk both for use within the community and sales to the outside world. After the Civil War, they hired about a dozen freedmen to work in their woolen and flour mills, allowing them to build cabins here. Other whites in Logan County were attacking blacks and trying to expel them from the county. In late August 1868, a mob of whites burned some of the freedmen's cabins. After the Shakers offered a reward to capture the men, whites returned and burned the Shakers' mills. These were uninsured, and their losses were close to $70,000. A Shaker wrote to a friend in New York that he believed "their offenses" were that they had "hired the negroes and pay them for their work... we treat them like men and pay them as such."Wright, George C. 1990. ''Racial Violence in Kentucky, 1865-1940: Lynchings, Mob Rule, and "Legal Lynchings"''. pp. 39-40. Baton Rouge and London: Louisiana State University Press The South Union Shaker Center House and Preservatory, built in 1824 as a Centre House, is today used for the Shaker Museum at South Union. Today, in addition to the Shaker Museum historical site, the South Union community is host to the county's only waste transfer station, operated by Apex and Scott Waste Services.

Geography

South Union is located roughly halfway between Russellville and

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep on ...

. The community is located along Kentucky Route 73 in the easternmost portion of Logan County just off U.S. Route 68 and

Kentucky Route 80 Kentucky Route 80 (KY 80) is a state highway in the southern part of the U.S. state of Kentucky. The route originates on the state's western border at Columbus in Hickman County and stretches across the southern portion of the state, ...

just west of the

Warren County Warren County is the name of fourteen counties in the USA. Some are named after General Joseph Warren, who was killed in the Battle of Bunker Hill in the American Revolutionary War: * Warren County, Georgia * Warren County, Illinois * Warren County ...

line. Logan County's boundary with Simpson County lies less than a mile (1.6 km) south of the community.

History

Geography

References

Further reading