194 Years Ago ...

Photo by artist Deb Ward

The Meeting House, the spiritual center of the community, was completed. Worship services were held here with the first floor constructed free of pillars to provide room for dancing. Second floor apartments housed the village ministry which included George Runyon.

"The Ministry, who are the central executive of the whole order, consists of two brethren and two sisters."

The buildings at Pleasant Hill are a variety of colors but the Meeting House would have been white, as prescribed by the Millennial Laws. In the Historical Dictionary of the Shakers, author Stephen J. Paterwic notes that non-Shakers often misinterpret the name Millennial Church - the name by which the Shakers of the early 19th century often referred to themselves as. Rather than gathering to await the second coming of Christ, the Shakers saw themselves as the living embodiment of the second coming.