In 1805, at the height of the period of early religious excitement in Kentucky, three members of the Shaker community in New Lebanon, New York, came to the Commonwealth of Kentucky to recruit converts. Soon there were little communities of Believers at Pleasant Hill in Mercer County and at South Union in Logan County. These settlements survived into the twentieth century as centers of worship and communal life; the buildings the Shakers erected here and many of their tools and artifacts remain to delight the eye today.
The Shakers at Pleasant Hill and at South Union produced a variety of handmade objects in styles that reflected their belief in both simplicity and the avoidance of individual aggrandizement. Chairs, baskets, boxes, and many other "craft" items made by the Shakers for their own use (and in a few cases for sale to others) have endured as examples of their admirable styles.
Today objects made in the Shaker style — though not by craftspersons who espouse or carry on the core religious beliefs of the Shakers — continue to be created and sold at gift shops operated at Pleasant Hill, South Union, and elsewhere.
MUSEUMS:
Shaker Museum at South Union (Logan Co.: Auburn, KY)
Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill (Mercer Co.: Harrodsburg, KY)
CRAFTERS of Reproduction Shaker Items
Lehigh Valley Woodw[orking (Richard Douglas - Taylor Co.: Campbellsville)
Lincoln Trail Woodcrafts [Shaker boxes] (Eric Havener & Steve Wathen - Richland, Indiana)
Shaker Boxes (David Kramer - Harrison Co.: Cynthiana)
Pod's Forge - (David Shadwick - Jessamine Co.: Wilmore)
See also: Shaker Crafts from the Index of American Design (online slideshow)