Community

Wedding Planning In A Pandemic

Shaker Village

Rebecca Wilson,Senior Catering & Event Sales Manager

Something that everyone has had to navigate during the global pandemic is how to safely go on with our day-to-day lives while maintaining safety for ourselves and those around us. This has made event and wedding planning even more challenging than before! No one wants to make compromises when it comes to the most important day of their life and who they wish to share that time with. Throughout this year, I’ve learned a lot while working with multiple brides to make their wedding day special and safe.

Bride and bridesmaids outside Meadow View Barn at Shaker Village.

It’s All About the Venue

When looking for venues there are many things to consider. Does this venue provide enough space for all guests to maintain social distancing guidelines? Does this venue have outdoor locations for guests to go, weather permitting? During this time, I recommend looking for venues that have both indoor and outdoor locations. If the weather is nice, your guests will be able to go in and out of the venue. This makes adhering to local and state guidelines much easier to manage, as guests are not confined to a single area within the venue.

At Shaker Village, we have several options for any guest count up to 150. For small, intimate events, we have historical spaces that could accommodate 50 people or under that are surrounded by beautiful scenery and nature. This will allow your guests to enjoy the starry night sky while staying warm next to a cozy fire. If your guest count exceeds that number, we have our Meadow View Barn. The barn is the perfect location for a large gathering. Originally utilized as a tobacco barn, Shaker Village has transformed this space into an ideal place to hold a reception. From this location, you can observe and bask in a gorgeous sunset. We also have the West Lot location, a great space that feels like a retreat. You and your wedding group can rent this space and stay in the West Lot building from Friday to Sunday.

Check In With Vendors (Especially Catering Vendors)

When times are uncertain it is very important to check in with your vendors more frequently. I recommend doing this often to stay up-to-date with any changes that your vendors may make due to the pandemic, especially your caterers. Food handling has not been an easy task to tackle during this time and your catering team may have changed the way they serve and handle food. I would suggest investing in a plated meal as well as service staff. This is to eliminate people coming together for a buffet line, while also limiting several points of touch. If you would like to do a buffet, work with your catering vendor to ensure that the buffet will be served in a safe manner and limit the touch points for your guests.

Table settings for a reception at Shaker Village.

At Shaker Village, we pride ourselves on cleanliness and the customer service of our restaurant and catering staff. Our events team has made accommodations to ensure that you and your guests remain safe. At Shaker Village we have a committed service staff that ensures the timeliness of the service for your event, especially since we are serving plated meals at this time.

To Mask Or Not To Mask

You will set the precedent of mask wearing at your event. If you and your wedding party are wearing masks on the dance floor and anytime other than when you are eating and drinking then the guests will follow suit. Messaging and visual cues help to reinforce that you are following current guidelines at your event. Hand sanitizer stations with disposable masks can be stationed throughout. Having a greeter that informs guests of the safety rules can explicitly convey how you expect your guests to behave. Decorative signs can reinforce your priorities such as “Spread the love, not germs!”

At Shaker Village, the safety of our guests is our top priority. All of our employees will be in masks. We have made changes to our catering services. For example, we have switched to strictly serving plated meals to ensure limited touch. Each of our catered meals comes with a friendly team of staff ready to provide the best and safest customer service to you and your guests.

Make Multiple Guest Lists

With changes to maximum capacities and new mandates, your guest list will likely vary over the course of your planning. You should begin by creating a full guest list. This includes everyone that you would want to invite. Based on that list, you should make a second guest list of 50%. This prepares you to make quick changes if the maximum capacity of your venue changes due to new mandates and guidelines. If you choose not to continue with your current date, and want to postpone to allow additional guests, then reference your contract and talk with your venue about their policy.

Here at Shaker Village, we are currently offering full refunds of deposits if your wedding needs to be cancelled due to COVID-19 or new mandates, or moving deposits to a new date that is available.

Hire a Wedding Coordinator or Day-of-Coordinator

I cannot stress enough that no matter how elaborate or intimate your wedding is, the entire planning process is complex and could be made easier by hiring a coordinator. A professional coordinator will also be apprised of all COVID-19 mandates, regulations and guidelines.

At Shaker Village, we do not require a coordinator, but recommend it as much as possible. The Event Sales Catering and Events Manager that you book with will ensure everything on the Shaker Village property will be ready to go on your big day. Our staff has knowledge of the policies and procedures at the Village that we will be using to make you and your guests feel safe. However, a coordinator can assist with the set-up and breakdown of all décor and help your dream wedding come to life!

Be Flexible

With things continually changing it is important to be flexible. Things may take longer to plan and timelines may be a little foggy. The plan can change very quickly and the team you have assembled will do everything they can to ensure your wedding day is perfect. With all the negativity surrounding the virus, something positive is that we can recognize and prioritize the things that matter most to us and that same philosophy applies to your wedding day. Couples should make a list and discuss the most important things they want to experience on their wedding day. Whether the ceremony is the experience you value the most or having your first dance with your new partner. Make sure you emphasize these things on your day because these are the memories you will look back on and cherish the most.

An outdoor ceremony at Shaker Village.

No one said planning a wedding in the middle of a global pandemic was easy, but it is doable and can still be the best day of your life!

If you are in need of a venue, please reach out to the team at Shaker Village.

Catering & Events at Shaker Village
[email protected]
[email protected]
859.734.1558

George Washington & The Shakers

Shaker Village

Jacob Glover, PhD, Director of Public Programs and Education

President George Washington

While it was not unheard of for the Pleasant Hill Shakers to mention sitting U.S. Presidents in their journals and other writings, the April 1839 “visit” of George Washington was one of the more remarkable events to unfold in the community’s history. In order to get the full story we need to go back a bit.

The New Era
The New Era, or the Era of Manifestations, was an internal spiritual revival that occurred within Shaker communities across America in the mid-19th century. This movement involved striking spiritual visions and an assortment of other spiritual “gifts” received by Shakers of all stripes. The New Era began at Watervliet, NY, in 1837, and the first trappings of the revival at Pleasant Hill began in September 1838 with a series of visions received by Sarah Poole.

Gift drawings were some of the most artistic outpourings of the New Era. Although none were produced at Pleasant Hill, this image from Hancock Shaker Village features important Shakers, as well as non-Shakers like Christopher Columbus. Credit: Hancock Shaker Village

Only a few months after the first visions, Poole would relate her encounter with our first President. On April 1839, Poole detailed that in her vision she had been transported to the “New Jerusalem” where she met with Jesus, Mother Ann Lee and a number of other Shakers leaders. They demanded that she take a hard lesson home to Pleasant Hill. According to Mother Ann, there were “many evils” among the community that needed to be confessed and purged from their ranks. Among these “evils” were matters such as “hard speeches, affections and lusts; and pride, envy, jealousy, backbiting, complaining, murmuring and fault finding.”

Initially Poole was reluctant to take such a message back to the community. She feared she would be ostracized by the other Shakers for her insistence that they must confess such actions. Mother Ann reassured her that the village leadership would assuredly support Poole, George Washington arrived on the scene to offer his support!

In Poole’s words:
“George Washington then came into the room, and bowed to me; and then said to Mother [Ann], that if she had union in it, he had a desire to send his love to the brethren and sisters…and to tell them, he had gained his salvation, by confessing and forsaking his sins….He also added, he had a little march he wished to be sung and marched at the same time, in remembrance of him.”

Meaningful Visions
In many ways, Washington’s advice and counsel to the Shakers was very similar to other spiritual visitors during the New Era. Many of them offered encouragement to the Shakers to continue to seek to fulfill their stated utopian aims of eradicating sin from their lives and achieving union with one another. Although it may seem strange that non-Shakers would sometimes feature so prominently in these visions, the fact that these personas from American history were associating with the Shakers in the spirit world was further proof of the legitimacy and urgency of the Shaker’s mission on earth.

By the 1850s the New Era would subside at Pleasant Hill and in other Shaker communities. The memory of the time that George Washington came to town, shared the news of his own salvation and encouraged the apparently backsliding Shakers through song and dance would still remain!

Lambing Season On The Farm

Shaker Village

Michael Moore, Farm Manager

One of the most exciting times of the year is upon us and it’s shaping up to be a big one (or little one) – lambing season. Winter is usually considered a slow time for a farm, but for a farmer it’s just a busy as any other time. A lot of planning and forward thinking occurs during the winter months. We’re thinking about what to plant and the schedules involved for a successful season, and lambing is no exception.

Every year we breed our ewes in the fall, sheep only have a gestation period of five months, so we expect lambs to arrive beginning in late February through the end of March. But, before the new lambs arrive there are some key things we must accomplish to ensure a successful lambing season.

Lambing Season Prep Checklist:

  • Ensure all of our areas are clean and ready for lambs and moms.
  • During the last six weeks we increase the mothers nutrition intake to assure she is healthy and ready to take on the new lambs (Yes, lambs! Sheep usually have twins).
  • Crutching the ewes, which is the process of shearing the tail end of the ewe, to ensure that she stays nice and clean through the birthing process.
  • We make sure all of our supplies are in order, such as milk replacers, baby bottles, vaccinations and heat lamps in case the new lamb or mom has any issues.
  • Most importantly, we are on a vigilant watch. Lambing can occur at any moment and any time of day. Long days and even nights are part of the process so that we can be there to help mom through every step if required.

This year we have 25 ewes expecting lambs and this flock can birth as much as 150% or more of their current numbers, so we are expecting upwards of 35 to 40 new lambs. We can’t wait to introduce each of them to you this spring!

Today in Pleasant Hill History

Shaker Village

Jacob Glover, PhD, Director of Public Programs and Education

On January 24, 1871, Pleasant Hill took the step of expelling a family of seven from their ranks. Interestingly enough, this newsworthy note is intermingled amongst more practical concerns in a Shaker journal:

Trip – El. H. L. Eades started for South Union via Lebanon. See 13th inst

Expelled – The Morrison family from the Society. Minerva the mother & Henry from the West Lot, & Hiram, Jacob, Leah, Belle & Ginny from the Center Family. See March 7, l870.

Trip – H. Daily went to Lexington with two wagons, & returned the following day.

LTR: James Shelton, John Pilkington, Henry Daily, Francis P., Napoleaon Brown. Girls unknown.

As the entry reveals, this expulsion had evidently been in the works for a rather long time! Going back to review that entry from March 1870:

“Mon. 7 Sent Away – The Widow Morrison family – who came some time since from the Mouth of Salt River viz. the Mother Manerva Ann & children William J. Morrison, Jacob T. Leah Ann, Sarah Isabel, Mary Jane & Henry William Morrison.  the Mother & youngest from the West Lot.  The rest from Centre all went on board the Boat for Louisville thence to their home.”

That’s all the Shakers wrote. It makes one wonder exactly what they had done to be “sent away” and “expelled” during a time of general population decline at Pleasant Hill.

Local Economies, Global Impacts

Shaker Village

Billy Rankin, VP of Public Programming and Marketing

Have you visited Shaker Village in the last few years? If so, the fact that we’ve made BIG changes in how we interpret the history of the Pleasant Hill Shakers is no surprise. For those who need a recap, this article is a good primer!

Shaker Village staff and consultants planning new exhibitions.

The history of the Pleasant Hill Shakers is layered, diverse, and oftentimes surprising. We want our interpretation to share those qualities!

To achieve that goal we use exhibits, workshops, multimedia content, demonstrations, tours…well, LOTS of methods. Every visitor comes with their own perspectives and learning styles. We build experiences to connect to each of them.

Something New is in the Works

This summer a new experience is coming to Shaker Village. We thought it would be neat to give you a monthly glimpse behind the scenes as we develop this exhibition on…economics!

Okay. I know. Economics isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, right?

But that’s where our incredible interpretive team comes in. You see, it is actually really interesting to consider how a communal society that didn’t believe in personal possessions got so darn good at making and selling things to the public.

And there are many more layers to this story that need peeling back.

For example: How did gender equality in Shaker society play into their business operations? Did the Pleasant Hill Shakers have any connection to enslaved labor? What happened when their population dwindled and more non-Shakers were making some “Shaker” products than Shakers themselves?

The 1845 East Family Brethren’s Shop as the village office.
c. early 1900s

And perhaps the most important question of all: What can we, who live in an ultra-modern order everything online “I don’t care where it comes from as long as it’s convenient” global marketplace, possibly learn from the economy of a small, agrarian village?

These questions and more will be addressed when Local Economies, Global Impacts opens this summer!

Developing a New Exhibit

Local Economies, Global Impacts is funded in part through a Museums for America matching grant, administered by the Institute for Museum and Library Services.

The 1845 East Family Brethren’s Shop and the 1855 East Family Sisters’ Shop will host the new exhibition. Each were important workshops, and offered other unique contributions to the economy of the village.

Pleasant Hill’s textile industry will be highlighted
in the new exhibit.

With the support of this grant Shaker Village has been able to conduct valuable new research about the economics of the Pleasant Hill Shakers that will come alive as part of the exhibit.

Guests will learn about the village trustees, trading deacons and office sisters. The exhibit will open a new window into the operation of mills, the management of natural resources, the work that happened in Shaker workshops, the routes travelled by trading deacons along roads and waterways, and the stories of the men and women who put their hands to work to sustain their community’s economy.

Local Economies, Global Impacts is currently in an early design phase, where we draft narrative flow within each building, and plan methods for sharing each portion of the content. Artifact displays, tactile interactives, murals, multimedia content and other methods are being fit together in the plan like an integrated puzzle.

Floor plans like this, from an early phase of design, are used to discuss the flow of content in each exhibit space.

Over the next two months we will finalize our designs, write the final content and produce graphics. Then we begin fabrication, followed by installation.

We hope you’ll come along for the ride with us each month as we update our progress. This summer, when you visit the exhibit, you’ll feel like you were there to help create it!