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Visiting a Shakertown


If you live in the Eastern part of the United States you have probably heard about "Shakers".  I won't go into detail about the religious beliefs of this group, but you can read more about them here.  To my knowledge, there is only one, tiny community of Shakers left in Maine, but the group did leave us a few of their villages, or "Shakertowns", that are incredibly interesting to visit.  There are two such villages in Kentucky.  I visited Pleasant Hill when I was much younger and really enjoyed it, so I was excited to find out when we moved to Kentucky last year that we now lived near the other Shakertown, South Union, in this state.  This month we were finally able to take a "field trip" there and had a great time!


This is the Centre House where most of the daily living happened.  It is segregated by two mirroring sides of the building: the women's side and the men's side.  Today it has been restored to a beautiful condition and if full of fascinating Shaker artifacts and antiques.  

table necessities

Shaker clothing

a Shaker bedroom (women's side)

a Shaker hymnal

exploring one of the many passageways

a Shaker classroom

poster of the final auction of this particular Shakertown

Shakers can certainly teach us a lot about orderliness and being industrious.  Their buildings were immaculate and so creatively arranged.  We also enjoyed walking around the grounds of this Shakertown.  Originally there were over 200 structures in this community, now there are only about 9 left standing.

the smokehouse

the kiddos feeding clover to the friendly neighboring horses

a Shaker barn

exploring

the ministry shop (workshop)

enjoying our day

a punched-tin lantern

the Shaker Tavern (now a B & B)

It's fun to be a "tourist" in your own state, there is always so much to explore and learn about!  While we may not be doing regular school lessons throughout the summer, we are definitely still learning.  And since this has only been our "home" state for not-quite-a-year we still have much to explore!  Can't wait!
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Kym said…
How interesting! The way they made order and simplicity so beautiful is intriguing to me. I'd love to visit a place like this.
June 29, 2012 at 9:29 AM
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