In May of 2012, my husband and I visited Gee’s Bend (official name Boykin) in Wilcox County, Alabama, to learn more about the quilters and see where they worked. There is only one road into the community, and it comes from Selma which lies to the North. We decided to enter at the South, taking the Gee’s Bend Ferry that departs from the Ellis Landing Road just north of Camden, Alabama and crosses the Alabama River to Gee’s Bend. It was a particularly interesting ride because fellow travelers were former residents who were returning for a high school reunion celebration scheduled for the weekend.

Once on the peninsula in Gee’s Bend, we were hoping to find signs to the Quilter’s Collective, however, at the time (2012) there was little signage. We drove around the community and luckily, spotted a small sign identifying the building. The door was locked but just as we were getting ready to leave, a woman came to unlock the building. It was Mary Ann Pettway who was “minding the store” that Saturday. The building consisted of a large social hall and, along the left side, there was a long, narrow sales room. My husband, Bob, and I spent considerable time looking around and chatting with Mary Ann. In time, we also enjoyed chatting again with some of the folks we met on the ferry because they came to say hello to Mary Ann and to look around. I purchased a small table topper made by Rita Mae Pettway, who is pictured below on her business card. The price for the piece was $49.05, which I though was high for the size and quality, however, even as a quilt history novice, I understood the value of this piece as art rather than a 16” X 17” quilted table topper. Rita Mae is represented in the Souls Grown Deep Foundation and her biography and additional works are found here: https://www.soulsgrowndeep.org/artist/rita-mae-pettway Rita Mae, my Gee’s Bend Quilt