Village@work

Kitty Durham, Garden Supervisor

Spring has officially sprung! Sunday, March 20^th marked the Vernal Equinox, the first day of astronomical Spring in the Northern Hemisphere. There is an equal amount of daytime and nighttime hours now, and we will continue to gain a bit more daylight every day until the Summer Solstice. We may still see some cold temperatures, as our official last frost date is still a few weeks away, but the farm is waking up from its winter hibernation and preparing to launch another year of Community Supported Agriculture shares. 

While not as adorable as the baby lambs that are being born daily at our farm, we have a plethora of baby plants to care for as well! We begin planting our seedlings in the greenhouse in February to ensure we have sturdy healthy plants ready to go into the ground by April. This year we have around 9,000 seedlings started in our greenhouse. These include our cool season spring starts such as brassicas, and some slow growing summer favorites like peppers and tomatoes. We also have flowers for our upcoming Chamber Music Festival, and hanging baskets filled with edibles which we will soon be offering to our guests. Even the plants that were directly sown into the garden are starting to sprout as we head into another productive season. 

Last year we began offering Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) pickups. A CSA model allows consumers to purchase a “share” of the upcoming year’s crops. A lump sum payment at the beginning of the season will entitle a customer to a weekly portion of the garden harvest. With small farms on the brink of extinction in the shadow of huge industrial scale farms, and consumers becoming more aware of how unhealthy some agricultural practices can be the CSA model offers a return to wholeness, health and economic viability. 

A History of Sharing

CSAs first began to sprout up across the globe as early as the 1960s. In Alabama regenerative agriculture pioneer Dr. Booker T. Whatley popularized the concept of “Clientele Membership Clubs” for small farmers which entailed customers paying up front for a season of food as a way of guaranteeing business. Not only did Dr. Whatley advocate for environmentally sound agriculture and economic equality but he was also pivotal in championing African American Farmers following the civil rights movement. 

CSAs offer benefits to the consumer and the farmer in a multitude of ways:

• They encourage consumers to eat seasonally.
• Eating locally grown produce reduces carbon emissions resulting from importing foods from other regions.
• Customers gain agency in choosing their food and how it is produced. 
• Consumers get the option to support farmers who use methods they embrace for both the environment and the health of the harvest they bring home.
• They foster a relationship with the grower and transparency into the processes used on the farm allowing consumers to see exactly how and where their food is grown. 
• Investing in a local farm supports the local economy keeping revenue within your hometown.
• By removing brokers involved in distribution the farmer is able to be fairly compensated. The payment schedule provides a portion of the farm’s operating budget pre-harvest when funds are needed most for seeds and equipment. 

In 2001, George Pilley of the Soil Association did a feasibility study that concluded that CSAs have many benefits for both farmers and consumers. He said, “Consumers have access to fresh food from an accountable source with an opportunity to reconnect with the land and influence the landscape they live in. CSAs deliver environmental benefits of few food miles, less packaging and ecologically sensitive farming, and see the return of local distinctiveness and regional food production with higher employment, more local processing, local consumption and circulation of money in the community enhancing local economies.”

Summer & Fall CSAs at The Village

Here at the Shaker Village Farm we will be offering a summer and fall CSA. Each season runs for ten weeks at a cost of $300 per share. That breaks down to just $30 per week! Shares will be sized to support approximately two people with produce for the week.

Each week our shareholders will receive a box with a variety of produce filled with whatever is ripening in the garden. Shareholders will also receive a weekly newsletter with information on farm happenings, tips on storage and recipes. Shares will be picked up on Fridays at the Shaker Village Welcome Center.  You can sign up to become a shareholder now. We hope you will partner with us to share in our bounty!

The role of African American Stonemasons in the Bluegrass.

Pony Meyer, PhD, Program Specialist
Em J Parsley, MFA, Village Interpreter

Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill was once home to 40 miles of dry-stack rock fences. Today, we maintain 25 miles of these beautiful historic rock fences. Most of them were built during a 15-year period between the 1840s and 1850s.

Like most of the historic rock fences in the Bluegrass region built before the 1860s, these were engineered by expert masons of Irish descent. But they were not the only ones involved in building these rock fences. African Americans played a crucial role as well.

Some people call these fences “slave fences,” but this is a bit of a misconception. There is some truth to the name—enslaved people were part of the workforce assisting Irish stonemasons. However, after emancipation, free African American masons also played an important role in constructing these iconic features of Bluegrass landscapes.

At Pleasant Hill, it is certainly possible that enslaved African Americans assisted in building our rock fences. We do consider the Shakers emancipationists, and Pleasant Hill Shakers purchased the freedom of several enslaved African Americans. We know of at least 21 African Americans who lived here equally as spiritual brothers and sisters. The Shakers never enslaved people, and because they did not believe in personal ownership of property, enslavers were prohibited from formally joining the community.

However, the Shakers at Pleasant Hill did use the labor of enslaved people from surrounding enslavers. Rock fence building was hard work and took many hands. It is therefore possible that enslaved African Americans were part of the workforce for building these fences here at Pleasant Hill. 

Elsewhere in the Bluegrass, this was certainly the case, especially on large plantations. In a letter addressed to Woodford County in 1840, for example, a landowner’s son asked “if the [enslaved people] were going to have enough stone hauled in for the new fence so the immigrants could start as soon as the ground settled in the spring.”

Farm records and African American oral traditions also indicate that enslaved people were involved in building these fences. During the antebellum period, they gathered and hauled rocks from quarries to construction sites and dug fence-foundation trenches.

As African Americans worked to assist Irish masons in construction, they eventually acquired the skills to become rock fence masons themselves. The skills, knowledge of tools, vocabulary, and techniques were then shared and passed down through the generations. However, it is difficult to know how many enslaved men were working as stonemasons before the Civil War because the census did not list the occupations of enslaved people.

After emancipation in 1863, however, we know that many of these laborers became accomplished stonemasons and started contracting their own work. Some started their own businesses. In fact, after emancipation the number of African American stonemasons started to increase while the number of Irish stonemasons started to decrease.

In 1870, for example, there were seven African American stonemasons compared to zero Irish in Mercer County. That same year in Boyle County, there were twenty-eight African American stonemasons and two Irish. By 1910, most stone fences in the Bluegrass were built by African Americans.

The Guy family provides us with one such example of five generations of stonemasons in the Bluegrass. Henry Guy, while still enslaved, helped build a rock fence between Shelbyville and Clay Village, a fence that his grandson, John H. Guy, would be responsible for relocating and rebuilding in 1941. The Guy family constructed several other prominent rock fences in the Bluegrass region, including those on the Walmac and Elmendorf farms.

The most recent stonemason in this line, John H. Guy III, is experienced in both dry-laid and mortared construction. In a 1989 interview, Mr. Guy provided some unique insights into the talent necessary for rock fence building, particularly for farm field fences and reconstruction of aged fences. He observed that a senior mason could discern after just a couple of hours if the trainee had the potential to do good-quality work at a rate quick enough to make a living. After all, rock fence masons are still paid by the foot or the rod, not by the hour.

Mr. Guy highlighted the necessary skill of identifying the rock that best fits the space among piles of many differently sized rocks. The mason must further be able to envision how two or more rocks will fit together either vertically or horizontally. There is not a lot of time for troubleshooting or shaping if you want to make money.

At the time of his interview, John H. Guy III was considered one the best in the trade in Franklin County.      

Rock fences are an integral part of Kentucky history, particularly in the Bluegrass region where the Shakers of Pleasant Hill lived for more than 100 years. The contributions of the skilled work of African American stonemasons is an important part of this history. 

This blog is largely informed by the research of Dr. Karl Raitz and Carolyn Murray-Wooley. For more information on rock fences in the Bluegrass and the role of African Americans in this trade, please see the references listed below.

Bibliography

1. “A Visit to the Shakers of Mercer Co. Ky.” Valley Farmer (October 1856).
2. Carolyn Murray-Wooley and Karl Raitz, Stone Fences of the Bluegrass (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1992), 94.
3. “History of Dry Stone Construction,” Dry Stone Conservancy. February 17, 2022. https://www.drystone.org/historyofdrystoneconstruction.
4. Karl Raitz, email message to author, Feb 11, 2022.
5. Karl Raitz, “Rock Fences and Preadaptation,” Geographical Review 85, no 1 (1995): 50-62.
6. Pleasant Hill Shaker Village Church Record Book B, Covenant of 1844 Section II Institution of the Church, Harrodsburg Historical Society: 70.

Barry Stumbo, Chief Development Officer
Melissa Williams, Development Coordinator

It’s a festive time of year at Shaker Village!  Most of the guests visiting are settled in at The Trustees’ Table for a hearty meal or snuggled down in one of our 72 hotel rooms. The coziness of the Village and the prospect of the New Year before us is filled with anticipation and promise. This is a great time for reflection and for counting blessings in 2021.

As we do each year in December, we’d like to share several highlights and achievements. We know thousands of you visited this year and saw first hand how the Village sparkled like never before.

Over 20,000 hikers and horseback riders explored The Preserve.

Our multi-use trail system is open (nearly) year-round. It’s a popular destination for our guests, especially when the wildflowers are in bloom. Our two-person Preserve team works hard to manage the natural habitat and we have a growing number of volunteers who assist with invasive species mitigation and trail maintenance. This spring we completed a major upgrade and repair to the most popular section of the trail system near the Fulling Mill. This repair stabilized the trail, the creek, and the slope of the surrounding spring to ensure this historic feature remains for generations to discover.

The Trustees’ Office and Old Ministry’s Shop were the beneficiaries of new roofs!

In November the 1839 Trustees’ Office got a new roof. There were enough materials left over to also replace the roof on the 1813 Old Ministry’s Shop. Not only do they look beautiful, the new roofs will help to secure the building envelop for 25-30 years. That’s cause to celebrate. As we wrote in May, water is the biggest threat to the long-term sustainability of the remaining Shaker Buildings. Every time we replace a roof, we are deflecting water and preventing it from damaging the historic structures.

They Shaker Village craftsmen also worked to complete over $1 million worth of preservation work in 2021:

• The preservation carpenter gave the 1847 Cooper’s Shop a lot of attention as he repaired the building’s framework and siding. 
• Loose mortar within the stone and brick masonry of the 1817 East Family Dwelling was replaced. Windows, sashes, and porches at East Family Dwelling were also repaired.
• Across the Village, the paint crew cared for building interiors and painted walls, ceilings, doors and windows as needed.

The Farm thrived and got a little bigger!

The Farm team manages 118 organic acres and partners with our Program team to support educational programming.  In addition, they care for over 125 animals! This year The Farm expanded with the addition of a 30’ x 60’ high tunnel (funded in part by the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels). This high tunnel houses 12 new planting beds and will allow the Farm Team to grow vegetables during the winter months.  This food source is not only important to our onsite restaurant, but we also sell produce through our low-cost CSA program and donate local food banks.  Thousands of people benefit through the efforts of the Farm team.

Signature Events Returned in 2021 and so did you!

When we opened ticketing for Family Farm Days and Brunch with the Babies, we suspected there would be a demand for event programming, however in the continuing pandemic, we were not sure what to expect. Your response was incredible!

Our signature events were high on your to-do list this year! Every event in 2021 (including Vintage Baseball, Craft Fair, Community Sing, the Kentucky Heritage Jazz Fest, Harvest Fest, Trick or Treat and Illuminated Evenings) was well attended.  In many cases, including the Craft Fair and Harvest Fest, the attendance for each was the highest in our history! 

You also attended our daily tours and programs and our specialty workshops.  You stayed overnight at The Inn, you dined (often!) at the Trustees’ Table and filled the house for the Fresh Food Adventures.  We are ending 2021 feeling overwhelmed by your enthusiasm for this place and for the work we do.

Celebrating 60 years as a nonprofit organization.

As the year comes to an end, we close our 60th year as a nonprofit organization. We cannot help but feel inspired and encouraged by 2021, though it was challenging at times. The Village at Pleasant Hill remains stronger than any time in our history. The buildings and grounds look spectacular. A new, permanent exhibit – the first in a series – is slated to open in March 2022. We have a great number of programs planned for the upcoming year – even new ones like Watercolor for Beginners.

But most of all, you’ve supported us through two tough and unprecedented years. You’ve kept coming back to the Village. You’ve shopped, dined, hiked, stayed and donated. Your passion for Pleasant Hill and the Kentucky Shakers is driving us forward for the future.

Last year we wrote: “we promise you that we remain committed to caring for this site, to serving our mission, and to providing you with a peaceful place to rest, relax and discover.” The promise rings true as we enter 2022. We look forward to seeing you at Kentucky’s largest National Historic Landmark in the New Year and are grateful for your trust and support!

Melissa Williams, Development Coordinator

“When we sow words and deeds of kindness, we will rejoice in the time of harvest. – Brother Larz Erickson, Pleasant Hill

The season of thanksgiving is upon us and here at Shaker Village it is the best time of the year. I say that in all seriousness, but it’s hard to dispute that any time is the best time of year at Pleasant Hill.

There is something about the falling leaves, the preparations for Thanksgiving Dinner at the Trustees’ Table and the addition of holiday decorations going up across the Village that makes this place extra special. A stroll down the turnpike on a crisp November day will inspire you and fill you with good cheer.

WE MAKE YOU KINDLY WELCOME

If you visited this year, you might have noticed something about Shaker Village: we’ve been extremely busy! The Inn has been booked with happy families and individuals seeking a peaceful getaway. Reservations are almost always needed to dine at The Trustees’ Table. Programming has been well attended by visitors young and old. Hikers and horseback riders have been out on the trails every day.

To put it simply Shaker Village has been flourishing. The grounds look better than ever. Historic preservation work continues through the Village. A new exhibit is opening next month. The farm family is growing. The trails have received restorative work. And more!

Every event we hosted in 2021 (to date) was a success, with guests declaring that it was “the best event ever” and their intention to make it an annual tradition. It’s truly been exhilarating.

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES

There have undoubtedly been challenges this year. The biggest of these has been trying to keep our staff and visitors safe while providing a robust guest experience.

We chose early on to move forward in planning for our signature events with modifications for COVID protocols. Our first signature event, Brunch with the Babies, was expanded to include Family Farm Days throughout the month of April. This format provided a more flexible and socially distanced guest experience for a wider audience. It was such a hit that Family Farm Days will be back in 2022. The same is true for other events and programming that we introduced or modified this year.

Like other businesses we have experienced staffing issues for a variety of reasons. Behind the scenes our staff has pulled together to wear many hats so that the guest experience meets your expectations. We sincerely appreciate the grace you’ve shown us when these challenges have been apparent.

Supply issues have also kept us on our toes. This month The Trustees’ Office is getting some tender love and care as the old cedar shake roof is removed and new shingles are installed. We’ve been waiting on the shakes since February and the price of materials increased by $50,000 during the delay. With overnight rooms, the restaurant and a craft store housed in The Trustees’ Office, it is the most visited building by our guests and is a critical revenue center for our operation. We could not delay the project further in hopes of prices coming down without risking more substantial water damage to the building.

A SINCERE THANK YOU

We know that this year hasn’t been easy for you either. We have all experienced stress in our personal lives for many reasons. And yet, you’ve supported us.

You’ve visited the Village to hike the trails and explore the Historic Center. You’ve participated in programming, gone on guided tours and been here for all of our signature events.

You’ve stayed overnight at The Inn, more so than ever before, and you’ve dined at The Trustees’ Table.

And when we have asked, you have donated to our nonprofit mission.

Because of you and your support, Shaker Village has been able to continue the important work we do here to carry forward the legacy of the Pleasant Hill Shakers.

Saying “thank you” doesn’t seem like enough to express just how much we appreciate you as a guest and a friend. Without you, your interest and your support, Shaker Village would not exist as it does.  I don’t know about you, but I can’t imagine a world without this 3,000-acre site.

So, we will say thank you and hope that you know we mean it. Sincerely.