South Union is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

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 ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, 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 The Shaker Museum at South Union is a museum of Shaker history located at the site of the South Union Shaker Village in Auburn, Kentucky, United States. The village was established by the Shakers in 1807 and closed in 1922. The museum is loca ...

. 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 ...

. 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 stat ...

just west of the 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