Shakertown is a great Kentucky tourist attraction, but few people today know much about the Shakers, or Society of Believers, a religious group that established two communities in nineteenth century Kentucky: one at Pleasant Hill in 1805 and the other at South Union in 1807.

American Shakerism had originated with a group of eighteenth century English Quakers, religious dissidents whose ecstatic manner of worship earned them the name Shaking Quakers, or Shakers. Their leader, a charismatic woman named Ann Lee, claimed to be in personal contact with God. Her visions and teachings became the fundamental doctrines of the Shaker faith. The revelations that Lee claimed to have received inspired the Shaker doctrines of celibacy, perfectibility, and communal living.

Persecuted in England for their beliefs and their liberal approach to Biblical interpretation, Lee and her small band of followers emigrated to America in 1774. By the 1830s the Shakers were flourishing in nineteen communities ranging from New England and New York to Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky.

The Believers saw common ownership of property, shared labor, and common worship as the purest expression of their faith. Spiritual counsellors were assisted by family deacons and deaconesses, who managed the temporal activities of Believers, such as assigning Sisters and Brothers to their occupations and directing work in the various shops and industries.

Visitors to Shaker communities were impressed by their orderliness, serenity, and simplicity. A typical Shaker day began early, at four o’clock on summer mornings and five in the winter. After the cows had been milked, the cattle fed, and the fires lit in the workshops, all assembled for breakfast, Brothers and Sisters sitting at separate tables. After a meal taken in monastic silence, Believers knelt again before departing for their labors.

As the Shakers returned to the tasks of the day, each member had his or her own responsibility. The Sisters prepared meals; did the washing, ironing, sewing, and weaving; tended to the poultry; and produced goods for sale, including cloth, canned fruits and vegetables, and medicinal herbs and seed packets. The Brethren worked about the farm, in the shops and mills.

The work of the Believers was part of their worship, inseparable from their religious beliefs. The Shakers believed that God dwelt in the details of their work and the quality of their craftsmanship, and their devotion to excellence resulted in countless inventions and some of the finest architecture and craftsmanship in America. The Shakers were renown for their cloaks, oval boxes, and furniture. Shaker improvements in farming and industry were legion from the introduction of new kinds of seeds to the invention of the common clothespin and circular saw.

As a religious organization, the Shakers had ceased to exist by the early twentieth century, but Shaker influences in architecture and crafts remain alive in Kentucky and throughout America.

For more information, the Jesse Stuart Foundation Bookstore carries "Handmade Style: Shakers," a book of simple projects illustrated with color photographs that guide you through every step. "In The Shaker Tradition" is a beautiful coffee table book with color throughout that pays tribute to Shaker architecture.

I just finished reading Janis Holt Giles novel, "The Believers," a moving story of love, marriage, and broken marriage set in the Shaker community. Giles gives us a unique picture of everyday life in a Shaker community. Realistically, but with understanding, she shows us a communal society driven by saintliness but undermined by bigotry and basic human frailties. Read "The Believers" to understand Shaker life and why their utopia failed.

These books are available at the Jesse Stuart Foundation Bookstore, 1645 Winchester Avenue, in downtown Ashland. For more information, call (606) 326-1667.