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buildings were destroyed. Concerned citizens stepped in to preserve the
HANCOCK SHAKER VILLAGE: Village in the 1960s.
Today, Hancock Shaker Village is a landmark destination of 750
THE CITY OF PEACE acres, 20 historic Shaker buildings, and over 22,000 Shaker artifacts.
Pittsfield, MA On the National Historic Register, it is the most comprehensively
interpreted Shaker site in the world, and the oldest working farm in the
https://hancockshakervillage.org Berkshires of Western Massachusetts.
Period-attired historical interpreters share their knowledge of Shaker
The Hancock community, the third of 18 major Shaker villages life with visitors as they tour the community’s historic buildings and 50
established in America, was formed in the late 1780s when nearly 100 room settings that showcase a premier collection of Shaker furniture,
Believers consolidated a community on land donated by local farmers crafts, and tools. These exhibitions accent the full range of Shaker daily
who had converted to the Shaker movement. By the 1830s, under life and show the Village’s collection as the Shakers would have used it.
the leadership of Joseph Meacham and Lucy Wright, the Hancock Hancock Shaker Village is also a working farm, as it was back in the
community peaked in population with more than 300 Believers living day. The Shakers made their farms into models of efficiency and
on more than 3,000 acres, on which they erected communal dwelling innovation through agricultural
experimentation and wise use of
technology. Visitors can experience
the realization of their vision in the
Village’s actively-managed herb
gardens, heirloom vegetable gardens,
and a barn full of heritage livestock
that populates the fields.

SHAKER VILLAGE OF PLEASANT HILL

Harrodsburg, Kentucky

www.shakervillageky.org

houses, barns, workshops, and other buildings, and developed a large
and successful farm. With the 1826 Round Stone Barn as the center of
its thriving dairy industry and many acres cultivated in medicinal herbs, Three Shaker missionaries, John Meacham, Issachar Bates, and
vegetables, fruits, and other crops, the Hancock Shakers enjoyed a Benjamin Seth Youngs, left Mount Lebanon, New York on New Year’s
simple, peaceful, and hard-working life. They named their utopian Day in 1805 and traveled on foot to Kentucky. In August of that
village The City of Peace, and organized the large community into six year, they found three Kentuckians who were willing to listen to their
smaller communal groups known as Families for efficiency of work, testimony—Elisha Thomas, Samuel Banta, and Henry Banta—
worship, and administration. who soon became the first Kentucky Shaker converts. Within a short
Eventually, forces outside time, Believers began moving to Elisha Thomas’ 140-acre Mercer
the community, including the County farm, and two years later to a nearby hilltop village they named
industrial revolution and the Pleasant Hill.
shifting of America from a The Pleasant Hill Shakers were hardworking farmers – first or
rural to an urban society, second-generation descendants of pioneers who settled the early 1800s
worked against their continued Kentucky River frontier. They were accustomed to overcoming hard-
growth and stability. By the ships by using strong will, ingenuity, and determination. The venture
early 1900s, with dwindling flourished and by 1823, there were 491 Shakers at Pleasant Hill with
converts, the Shaker popula- land holdings of approximately 4,500 acres. Over a 105-year span, the
tion at Hancock declined to Shakers constructed more than 260 structures of all kinds, including a
about 50 Believers, most of municipal water system, one of the earliest such systems in Kentucky.
them Sisters and orphan girls As early as 1816, the Pleasant Hill Shakers were producing enough
who had been adopted by the surpluses of brooms, cooper ware, preserves, packaged seeds, and other
community. Eventually, excess products to begin regular trading trips to New Orleans via the
land was sold and many Kentucky, Ohio, and Mississippi rivers. The Shakers’ devotion to

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