Westmarch was born on a back porch in rural Ohio during the COVID-19 lockdown. Rachel Hankinson, a rising senior at Patrick Henry College, was looking for creative ways to fulfill her internship credits thanks to the world collapsing. Cicadas singing and the smell of fresh-cut grass brought her back to her childhood dreams: publication, creativity, and the search for meaning. What had she learned about creativity and meaning at college? A lot. Publication? Nothing… yet.

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Patrick Henry College’s literary journal saw several iterations before Westmarch came on the scene: “Cuttlefish” and “The Vessel”, two previous iterations, were student-run, slight, and sickly–not to mention, well, dead. Nobody loved them enough to water them for years, tend their soil, and be patient when the inevitable dry spells came along. Hankinson was determined to make something that would last. The name “Westmarch” was chosen because it means just that: longevity. In Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, first Bilbo, then Frodo, and finally Samwise are tasked with writing in The Red Book of Westmarch so that important things are not forgotten. Hankinson envisioned the same thing for Patrick Henry’s literary journal.

Hankinson assembled a team, encouraged (read: threatened) the student body to submit, and even obtained a staple gun when regular staplers wouldn’t hold Westmarch together. The project management, editorial, and publication skills she gained secured her first job in the editorial world after college. Subsequent editor-in-chiefs similarly flourished beyond their years at PHC with the skills the journal taught.

Hankinson thought her dream was complete. God had more in mind.

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In 2023, Patrick Henry College formalized Westmarch to become a for-credit class in recognition of the valuable skills it teaches and the meaning it contributes to campus life. Post-master’s degree, Hankinson has returned to her alma-mater to hold the hand of Westmarch once more, this time as its faculty leader. The journal is still fulfilling the dream she had on that back porch in Ohio: helping students remind each other of the most important things–things that cannot afford to be forgotten.