Simply a Kentucky Treasure
The trip to Pleasant Hill to visit Shaker Village and its myriad of offerings is worth your while

 "‘Tis a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be free..."

The age-old melody began playing in my mind on a cold, blustery day last November as I drove into the scarlet and gold tree-lined drive at Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill in the rolling Bluegrass country near Harrodsburg. That plain yet catchy tune is one of more than 20,000 declaring devotion to work and worship that were left by the Shakers and epitomizes the voluntary simplicity by which they lived.

Shaker Village today appears much as it did during the 1850s, when some 500 residents practiced their faith, with its credo of "Hands to work, hearts to God," on 4,400 acres of farmland. The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, more commonly known as Shakers because of their ecstatic ritualistic dancing, sought to create utopia. Upon joining, members pooled all their resources into the community, practiced celibacy so as not to detract from the worship of God, believed in sexual and racial equality and worked from dawn to dusk to avoid wasting God-given time and talents.

Established in New York State just after the revolution, the sect traveled to central Kentucky in 1805. Soon the Shakers established the community of Pleasant Hill, which thrived so well that during the Civil War, the village often would feed upwards of 1,000 Yankees or Johnny Rebs in a day, depending upon who was in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, changing social attitudes and the industrial revolution hearkened the demise of the celibate order. By 1923, the last Shaker had died, leaving Pleasant Hill but a memory.

Nearly 40 years later, a preservation group began what's become a splendid restoration effort. In April 1960, Shakertown first opened eight buildings to the public. Today, with a $5.6 million budget, 92 percent of its income is generated from dining, lodging, craft sales and tours. After 30 years of meticulous restoration, Pleasant Hill boasts 33 original Shaker buildings with 14 exhibition areas of Shaker furniture and artifacts, 2,700 acres of original working farmland, a 130-capacity dining room, two craft stores, a riverboat, 25 miles of rock fences and some 200 employees. Its 85 guests rooms are furnished with Shaker reproductions and handwoven bedspreads and rugs, and are equipped with such modern comforts as hot showers, air conditioning and telephones. Accommodations are available for groups or corporate retreats from five to 100 people.

"Pleasant Hill is one of Kentucky's very special places," its president and CEO Jim Thomas says. "This village is a remarkable assemblage of buildings and grounds. We thank God and the Shakers for that. Probably no more than 20 places in America are so distinguished by their history, by the importance of the site and by the dramatic physical setting that exists here, that they transcend local and regional significance."

Currently the largest restored 19th-century community of its kind, Shaker Village is not only on the National Register of Historic Places, but it's been declared a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The spacious, limestone 1834 Centre Family Dwelling, housing the site's main Shaker collection, is always open and is a great place to begin exploring. On its easy, self-guided walking tour, I leisurely strolled through many of the handsome, limestone, brick and clapboard restored buildings, as sound today as when they were erected 150 years ago.

In 1998, Shaker Village was named Kentucky's top craft retailer, an honor bestowed by vote of the state's artisans. Its craft shops are such gems that this confirmed non-shopper spent an hour in the larger one. Reminiscent more of a gallery, it features a myriad of handmade Shaker items; brooms, round nestling boxes, furniture, quilts, rugs and wooden toys among them, along with an extensive collection of Shaker and Kentucky books and music.

Finding that all this time-traveling can create quite an appetite, well before noon I succumbed to the delicious aromas luring me to lunch.

My chief order of business was trying not to stuff myself too full of creamy homemade coleslaw and hot corn sticks that await as appetizers on each table, so I'd have room after my meal for Shaker Lemon Pie. Alone worth the drive to Pleasant Hill, this to-die-for treat is chock full of ultra-thin slices of fresh lemon in a crust flaky enough to pass the scrutiny of any grandmother.

Energetic souls who walk to work off that yummy fare can hike to the river on the 1826 Shaker road and explore the foundations of Shaker warehouses and the restored 1866 Timber Frame Stable, once used to shelter horses for a stagecoach that ran between Lexington and Harrodsburg, part of the Great Western Mail Route.

Once you've returned, peruse the village from a horse-drawn wagon, driven by an interpreter who'll spin you back to the days when the settlement bustled with life, when women in plain dresses, crisp white aprons and starched bonnets used separate doorways and stairways than the men, in their straw farmer's hats and suspenders.

No matter what your bent, Shakertown has an appeal. As the Shakers themselves said, "We make you kindly welcome."

Katherine Tandy Brown is a staff writer for The Lane Report.

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