Sunrise quilt by Rowena Gorman Black c. 1845

This circular and diamond patterned quilt, also called “Mariner’s Compass,” is composed of nine large blocks with a saw tooth border.

According to Wayne Norman, a descendant of the quilt maker, the cloth and batting was made from cotton raised and prepared on the Black plantation in Campbell County, Georgia.

In 1864, when General Sherman’s Union soldiers were marching through Georgia, the quilt was hidden with other valuables in a swamp, where it remained safe except for water stains from a storm.  Textiles of any kind were prized as spoils of war because of their cost and scarcity.