Ingenuity

Preservation@Work

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It’s almost Preservation Month, and preserving Shaker Village is no small task! The Shakers built more than 260 structures during their time here, and 34 of those structures are left standing today. With lots of love, but finite funding, our to-do list stays long around here. Carpenters, painters, architects, maintenance techs and more come together to preserve these amazing pieces of history. During your visit to Shaker Village, you can find many preservation projects going on at once.

One of our most recent endeavors has been the West Family Wash House. About a year ago, we undertook the preservation of this beautiful yellow building. With the intention of replacing the siding, construction began last April; however, we quickly realized the framework needed some major TLC. And so, here we are. A year later, window sashes have been remade, siding has been replaced, plaster has been repaired and much more.

While the original siding was made of beveled poplar, most of the siding left on the Wash House before this project was not original to the building. After much research and with the blessing of the Kentucky Heritage Council, the decision was made to try something new during this preservation project and use boral siding: a synthetic blend that replicates the look, feel and character of traditional wood siding, while resisting rot, splitting, cracking and termites. Many hands contributed to this project, as our carpenters and painters worked side-by-side to ensure everything was done correctly (including beveling each piece of siding to custom fit the building)!

With just a few loose ends to tie up and exterior painting to be done, the West Family Wash House will soon be finished (for now). Preservation is a never ending task around here, and we intend to do our best. Stay tuned for other preservation@work happenings! We’ve got several history-making projects coming very soon!

West Family Wash House Facts:

  • It was completed in 1842. The inhabitants of Shaker dwellings were responsible for their laundry; therefore, each family had its own wash house. The East and West Family Wash Houses still stand today, and we continue to run daily and special programs inside them. 
  • Today, it is used primarily as a meeting space for groups and programming.
  • In the 1960s, the West Family Wash House was used as a storage shed.
  • The siding was most likely replaced at some time since the nonprofit’s original restoration in the 1960s.
  • There are no original window sills on this building.

Mike Worthington, Paint Foreman

You can learn more about this project and others during, Preservation Now, a program offered daily this Spring. Plan your visit to Shaker Village.

We set The Preserve on fire!

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If you were driving through Central Kentucky last week, you may have noticed some smoke coming from our way. Don’t worry… we meant to do that. No, really, we did. On Friday, the preserve team burned about 450 acres… on purpose!

Prescribed fire can be defined as a fire applied in a skillful manner to wildland fuels, in a predetermined place, under exacting weather conditions, to achieve specific management objectives.

Prescribed burns are part of the annual management plan of The Preserve to promote high quality brood rearing habitat for northern bobwhite quail and grassland songbirds. Adjacent unburned fields act as refuges and will be used as nesting habitat. Joining the Shaker Village preserve team on Friday were partners from Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife, United States Fish and Wildlife, Kentucky Division of Forestry and Copperhead Consulting as well as regional volunteers and the local fire department. While we can’t provide this experience to daily guests due to safety reasons, we’d like to share it with you here:

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Learn more about our land conservation efforts. Watch a video of last week’s burn.

Ben Leffew is the preserve manager. A Kentucky Proud product straight out of Boyle County, Ben’s formal and informal education has prepared him to take on any conservation challenge…

Good Giving Inspires Great Things

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The Pleasant Hill Shakers quietly blazed their own trail, while challenging perspectives on the Kentucky frontier for more than 100 years. Their unconventional ideas left a lasting imprint on the great American experiment, and their simple, but remarkable contributions to modern concepts of community, sustainability and ingenuity continue to teach us today.

Their work inspires our work—we are on a mission to inspire generations through discovery by sharing the legacies of these Shakers. Today, this Village at work is challenged to keep pace with the Shakers’ resourcefulness and unmatched inventiveness. They made great things happen, and we strive to live up to their example.

Every day, we are working to restore irreplaceable examples of Shaker architecture through new, modern preservation methods. We’re also restoring native habitats, saving pollinators, promoting fresh-from-the-farm foods, conserving priceless artifacts and encouraging healthy communities. And at the heart of it, we are working to connect this site with trailblazers of all ages to inspire tomorrow’s learners, makers and doers.

There’s so much to do—and we need your help to grow the impact of this great work! Explore new ways to preserve history. Go on a Discovery Trek and save the Monarchs. Send your kids to camp to learn about backyard biodiversity. Boost local foodways and farmers. Give the gift of an annual pass. Most importantly, please consider making a financial contribution to support our everyday Village@Work projects. By doing so, you ensure that the legacies of the Pleasant Hill Shakers remain an important influence in shaping our future.

As a non-profit organization, Shaker Village relies on financial support from friends and neighbors to fund the seeds of discovery all year. Along with revenues from the Inn, Trustees’ Table, Shops and other sales, unrestricted gifts are needed every month to keep this Village working and to purchase feed, nails, bee boxes, camp supplies, seeds, paint, mowers, plants and so much more.

Your contribution is tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law and goes directly to caring for the Pleasant Hill Shakers’ 34 remaining structures, 3,000 acres of conserved land and growing impact on tomorrow’s trailblazers. With your help, we make great things happen at Shaker Village!

Will you join us in our quest to ignite tomorrow’s trailblazers?

Shaker Village is excited to be a part of this year’s #givingtuesday initiative on November 29. Don’t wanna wait until then? Make your gift now.

Opulent Okra

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As fall rapidly approaches, the summer stalwarts of the garden often choose to go out with a bang. Tomatoes ripen at twice the rate of past weeks, as do the peppers. No crop displays this late season grandeur more dramatically than okra. This rarely recognized, often misunderstood plant thrives during summer’s most relentless heat more so than all the rest and likewise is the first to show signs of the cooler nights. This is the time it’s been waiting for—as have we.

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The magnificent flowers that precede the okra pods last longer into the day, thanks to the cooler weather, and are perhaps the most striking flowers to grow in the garden all year. Closely related to hibiscus, they put on quite a show, perched atop 6-ft. plants and producing new flowers at break-neck pace. What comes next are the fruits, which seem to grow at twice the rate the flowers do. Often three harvests per week is not enough to stay on top of the onslaught. By now, we’ve used the pods for nearly everything we can think of, and large pots of gumbo seem increasingly appropriate as we begin to add layers of clothing in the evenings.

Throughout the season, some of the pods just slip past us. Mortal gardeners are rarely able to get them all before they go tough and so they accumulate. These striped and dried oddities—often in excess of 8 inches—will have other novel uses. The seeds rattle more as the pods dry out, making them a fine choice for Halloween garlands. The choicest of these, however, have an even deeper purpose—to ensure the next generation. We’ve been saving our own okra seeds for three years now, and each year our plants grow more accustomed to our soils and our practices—and perhaps, even to us. Soon these plants will be at the mercy of winter, an ordeal they will not survive, but they’ve made it easy for us to ensure we’ll be enjoying them for years to come.

The Trustees’ Table is making okra soup, sautéing it with fresh tomatoes as a side dish and pickling it to serve in relish bowls. The next time you join us for a meal, ask about the okra and tell ’em Dylan sent ya!

Dylan Kennedy is the farm manager. An avid mountain biker and traveler, he has farmed as far and wide as…

Great things happen here.

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Our staff works hard every day to inspire you! You’ve likely met many of them—Dylan in the garden, Brad in the dining room, Aaron in the Centre Family Dwelling. But, there are countless others bustling behind the scenes to bring you experiences that spark discovery.

For instance, Robert is bringing the West Family Wash House back to life. Claudia is picking fresh herbs for a new recipe tonight. Richard is getting the Dixie Belle ready for tomorrow’s cruises. Merin is harvesting honey for you to taste. Sharon is tidying your room before you check in. Wally is keeping the turnpike neat and orderly. Rosemary is stocking the shelves with new merchandise. Laura is marking the trails so you can find your way. Randall is tuning the HVAC so you can take a break from the heat. Jenny is researching a new Shaker-modern program to share.

All across our 3,000 acres, farmers, chefs, naturalists, painters, archivists, craftsmen and storytellers are working hard to make great things happen. Shaker Village is not a window into the past only to be peered at from behind the ropes. It is a Village at work. Come see for yourself. Get your hands dirty, try something new, expand your imagination and explore Kentucky.

This is Shaker Village. We hope it inspires you to do great things.

Maynard Crossland is the president. You’ll hear his laughter before you see him. Maynard’s energy and enthusiasm is contagious, along with his contemporary approach to leading Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill [….]