Sustainability

5 Things You Don’t Know About The Inn

shakerblog

GLINTstudios_2015_ShakerVillage_00011

Shaker Village has been a warm beacon of hospitality for more than 200 years. The Shakers used to host travelers in the Village long before 1841, when The Trustees’ Office was built. The Trustees’ Office signaled open arms to guests with its one front door, instead of the well-known double Shaker entrance. It was a greeting place; the heart of the Village to outsiders, business partners, friends and family members of the Shaker community. Boarders, as they were called, were welcome to stay, dine and visit with the Shakers, as long as they followed their rules during their stay. Today, while we don’t insist that you follow a list of Shaker rules, we do insist that you sit back, relax and enjoy your time at Shaker Village!

Trustees' Office

The Trustees’ Office, circa 1842

Named as a top hidden travel destination by BBC News, The Inn is much more than a traditional hotel. Guest rooms, suites and private cottages—each offering distinct character—are located in 13 restored Shaker buildings. Rooms are comfortably appointed with Shaker reproduction furniture, original hardwood floors and spectacular countryside views.

Old Stone Shop 174.2

1. Each room is unique! Request your favorite room, or be ready for a different adventure each time you visit. Find a handwritten poem on the windowsill of room 174. Look for letters from past visiting guests in a floorboard under the bed of room 207 (and write your own letter to add to it). Enjoy a perfect view of The Preserve from room 160. See original pieces of the building on the second floor of East Family Dwelling. Open the tiny door in room 505 and ponder what it’s for. Watch the sunrise from your window in room 563. The list goes on and on. These buildings have real history, and each room tells a different story.

2. We’re sustainable! In true Shaker form, we try to be as sustainable as possible and use our resources to the best of their ability. From LED lightbulbs and green toiletry and cleaning products to our newest venture with waterless urinals, we strive to make differences that will impact the entire village for the better.Tens of thousands of guests visit the Village each year and are served by approximately 140 employees. Despite serving an increasing number of guests through meals, programs and events, staff have managed to decrease solid waste. This accomplishment took a coordinated effort across departments, and the recycling program continues to be improved and expanded. More than 432 cubic yards of plastic, glass, aluminum and cardboard will be recycled by the end of the year. This volume of trash would fill 12 average-sized bedrooms from floor to ceiling and represents a savings of approximately $2,300 in trash service fees. We will continue to find ways to be more sustainable in The Inn and all areas of the Village this year and every year to pass on the legacies of the Shakers and to preserve this site for future generations.

3. We have pet-friendly rooms! No need to leave your fur baby at home when you plan your getaway to Shaker Village. Explore the grounds with your dog (on a leash, please) and then check out our pet-friendly hiking trails, as well as overnight rooms.

4. You get complimentary admission to the Village! Every day is filled with self-guided and staff-led tours, talks, exhibitions, hands-on activities and more throughout The Historic Centre, The Farm and The Preserve. Scheduled experiences change daily based on the seasons and VILLAGE@WORK projects. Enjoy outdoor fire pits or go stargazing. Hop on one of our bikes and take a ride. Go hiking or birdwatching. Enjoy the view from our tree swings and so much more. Visit our events calendar to see what else is happening around here.

5. By staying here, you contribute to making great things happen at Shaker Village. Your online and onsite purchases generate revenue to keep this site going. All operating proceeds benefit Shaker Village’s mission and are used to develop new programs and events, compensate employees, buy new linens, feed the farm animals, maintain the trails, keep the lights on and much more! Visit our website to learn more about how you can support Shaker Village.

Trustees' Office 303.1 Bath Trustees Office 305

This Kentucky destination allows you to be as active or as restful as your heart desires. Come ready for a new adventure or a peaceful retreat. Whether you’re planning a family vacation, weekend getaway, business meeting, destination wedding or other special occasion, The Inn provides the perfect stage for your most memorable occasions. Start planning your getaway now!

Check out these promotions currently going on at The Inn:
Bee My Valentine Package
Cozy Winter Nights at The Inn 

Anthony Cardano is the inn manager and joined Shaker Village after cutting his teeth in the corporate hotel world…

Good Giving Inspires Great Things

shakerblog

img_7933

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.

Hello, November

shakerblog

burn

We set The Preserve on fire! Every year, Shaker Village fields are managed on a 2-year fire rotation to maximize conditions for habitat. Controlled burns are an integral part of the restoration and maintenance of the more than 1,200 acres of native warm season grasses and wildflowers found throughout the 3,000-acre property. Burns, such as this one, are carried out as part of our property management plan. Funded through grants from the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) and the Natural Resources and Conservation Service (NRCS), our projects have returned the land to the prairie appearance that existed prior to the Shakers’ settlement of the area.

During the last 10 years, we have successfully converted 1,200 acres of unproductive pasture land into native prairie grasses and wildflowers. The results have been extraordinary—60+ coveys of wild Northern Bobwhite quail (the highest density of this declining species in Kentucky) and thriving insect, songbird and mammal populations.

You can see more about Shaker Village and quail restoration on This American Land airing on PBS later this year.

We take a “bottom up” ecosystem approach to quail management. We start at the bottom by providing high quality habitat consisting of native warm season grasses and wildflowers. Through late-winter prescribed fire and field specific management, we hold succession in check and provide premium nesting and brood rearing habitat in adjacent fields. We work to provide woody cover and “rough edges” to support quail across the entire range of habitat types they prefer. Our efforts not only support quail, but all other organisms that thrive in a native prairie ecosystem. Through intense monitoring of the quail and songbird population, we are able to see how our management positively affects overall bird populations. We also are able to determine sustainable hunting limits for quail with proceeds from hunting supporting The Preserve at Shaker Village and 1,200 acres of high quality quail habitat.

Join us this month for a Quail Dinner.
Learn more about our Land Conservation work.
Consider donating to Shaker Village to help us continue to make great things happen here.

Please note: The Preserve and trails will be closed Mondays – Fridays from Nov. 1 – Dec. 30 for habitat and wildlife management and trail restoration work.
The trails along River Road (River Road Trail and Palisades Trail) will be open every day for guests who want to hike/walk during the week. All trails will be open Saturdays and Sundays in November and December.

Ben Leffew is the preserve manager. A Kentucky Proud product straight out of Boyle County…

Opulent Okra

shakerblog

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.

okra

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…

Save the Monarchs

shakerblog

GLINTstudios_2015_ShakerVillage_00140

Each fall, hundreds of millions of monarch butterflies migrate from the United States to warmer southern regions. The monarch migration is one of the world’s greatest natural wonders, yet it is threatened by habitat loss. The Preserve serves as a giant Monarch Waystation, providing wildflowers and other resources necessary for monarchs to breed in the spring and summer and feed during their fall migration.

Monarch butterfly ULJ157, tagged at the Village in September 2015 traveled approximately 2,000 miles to El Rosario, Mexico where it was recaptured in March 2016. Monarch butterflies migrate from Mexico to as far north as Canada in the spring and then back south again in the fall. By tagging these amazing creatures, guests at Shaker Village contribute to international research efforts aimed at preserving this declining species. The milkweed and other plants found throughout the restored native prairie act as a giant butterfly waystation for monarchs and hundreds of other pollinators. We are thrilled that one of our tagged butterflies made it back south where the journey started all over again this spring.

This month at Shaker Village, join us for Spirit Strolls, HarvestFest, a new photography exhibit and much more! Wanna help save the butterflies? Check out our Monarch Butterfly Tagging Workshop on Sept. 17 and 18.