SHAKERS

Inn at Shaker Village

At the top of a Kentucky road map are the words: “Unbridled Spirit,” and we discovered the best evidence of this spirit a few years ago in Berea, Kentucky, billed as the State’s Folk Art and Crafts Capital in the foothills of the Appalachians. It’s the home of Berea College, the first interracial and co-ed college established in the South, and a center of art galleries and working studios... as well as the site of the Boone Tavern Hotel where the best spoon bread in Appalachia is served! (This treat usually precedes dinner, and we were too polite to ask for more, but we could have devoured the entire bowl from which a Berea College student dished out a conservative portion).

On this second visit to the town, we discovered an entry in the guide book advising us to visit the Shaker Village in Pleasant Hill, about an hour’s drive from Berea, so we drove over to find more serendipity in this once-thriving community of  “The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearance,” or more commonly known as Shakers, members of which practiced a dramatic religion, raised livestock and produce, created beautiful handicrafts, and explored communal living during the 19th century. 

Water House and Bath, Shaker Village

Ann Lee, the priestess of the Shakers’ New Light religion, had come over from Manchester, England to New York to develop her version of faith after being thrown in prison for her belief that Christ would reappear in female form…and she self-proclaimed that incarnation! Her religion called for members to forsake the world by privatizing property, dissolving marriage vows, and making full public confessions of sins. Members were also to preach peace and mental contentment.

However, Ann Lee died at the age of 45, and a ruling body of elders and eldresses went down to Harrodsburg near Lexington, Kentucky to form a communal organization on land that became a domain of over 4,000 acres. The Shakers’ settled on a site high above the Kentucky River, on a level limestone plateau with fertile soil, and the town was placed in a pleasant air current that made farming and human habitation favorable. The Shakers became one of the most industrious communities in the U.S., isolated but bound by a covenant that required them to be actively religious: celibate, openly confessional, and when they met for worship to use physical vigor, shaking themselves to get rid of their sins and gain spiritual release (Our tour guide demonstrated their behavior by shaking her entire body energetically).

Men and women lived together in family houses the Shakers built under the guidance of the young engineer, Micajah Burnett — family homes, craft shops, sheds, barns, water supply, and bathhouses. Men and women were considered to be equal, but men slept on the bottom floor of the family homes, and women had to climb the stairs to sleep on the top floor. The houses were built in the tradition of Federal architecture with walls of native bricks and stone foundations quarried from Pleasant Hill property.*

By 1896, only sixty Shakers remained in the Pleasant Hill community, and the village had deteriorated. In 1910, twelve Shakers deeded 1800 acres of Shaker lands to George Bohon with the agreement he’d care for them until the end of their lives. The Shaker population has been completely decimated, but in 1961, the restoration of the Shaker village became largely possible through a Kentucky citizen, Earl D. Wallace. He and friends crusaded to raise enough money to purchase options to later buy the village and farm. 

Within a year the Federal Economic Administration had granted a loan of $2 million to be repaid over forty years. Today, thirty-three restored buildings form the Village and as many as 5,000 tourists from throughout the world come to view the village of a former community of believers who thought they were part of a perfect society but deteriorated because of a narrow religious ideal, persecution, and poverty. 

Stone Fence at Shaker Village, Kentucky

When we visited the site, docents continuously led groups through the grounds and buildings. Along with other visitors we marveled at artifacts and structures that represent the history of the dedicated Shakers of Pleasant Hill. 

Shakers kept voluminous journals and records of their Society of Believers which have provided material for fascinating lectures. Today, visitors are touted as the major supporters of exhibition tours, a museum, a river cruise, overnight accommodations, a restaurant, and several crafts shops. The site still bustles with life and continues to thrive as an unusual example of a spirited religious awakening in America. 

A parting note: As I claim Cajun ancestry, the following notice on the wall of the Inn at Pleasant Hill, fascinated me: 

Plaque in Inn at Shaker Village

*Reference: Pleasant Hill and Its Shakers by Thomas D. Clark and F. Gerald Ham.

Photographs by Victoria I. Sullivan