Shaker

Pleasant Hill, near Harrodsburg in central Kentucky, is a Shaker community founded in the early 19th century. The village has been restored and visitors may stay in some of the buildings where traditional Shaker crafts are demonstrated.

Member of the Christian sect of the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, called Shakers because of their ecstatic trembling and shaking during worship. The movement was founded by James and Jane Wardley in England about 1747, and taken to North America in 1774 by Ann Lee (1736-1784).

Mrs Lee, the wife of a Manchester blacksmith, was known as Mother Ann. She founded a colony in New York, and eventually 18 colonies existed in several states. Separation from the world in self-regulating farm communities, prescribed modes of simple dress and living conditions, celibacy, and faith healing characterized the Shakers' way of life.

Mrs Lee held that God had appeared in his masculine aspect as Jesus and would appear a second time in a female aspect, which her followers identified with her. She believed that sex is inherently sinful, and Shakers were forbidden to marry. New members were supplied to the colonies through conversion and adopting orphans, but by the 20th century their numbers steadily declined, and today there are only a few Shakers left. Shaker design became renowned for pleasing but austere simplicity.