On this date in 1816 ...

August 31, 1816, Saturday - Today the Children mov'd from Lebanon to the West Family, Betsy Moran has the care of them, also today William Runyon (Seign) arrived here from Union Village; At this time there is 106 members in the West Family.

Union Village was a Shakers' community in nearby Ohio, northeast of Cincinnati
Photo: Warren County Historical Society

Visiting Pleasant Hill

Get your bearings with this map of the present-day restored Shaker village.

On this date in 1873 ...

Guilford D. Runyon, age 75, died April 6, 1873 and was buried at Harrodsburg

Tools on a shoe mender's bench at the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky Photo: Corbis

Guilford D. Runyon, a shoemaker at Pleasant Hill, raised there from a child, departed May 18, 1829. He returned and was admitted to the Junior Order the following June. Was expelled in 1839 from the Society because of his plans to marry Kitty Ferrell of New Orleans. She died before they could be married and he lived in the town of Harrodsburg the remainder of his life. -- Center Family Journal

On this date in 1835 ...

March 13, 1835 - Joel Green and Matilda Runyon (Josephs daughter) signed the Covenant in presence of A Wilhite and John R Bryant.

It’s not *a* gift to be simple

It’s the gift.

Elder Joseph Brackett's "Simple Gifts" is a dance song written in 1848 at the Shaker community in Alfred, Maine. The original words written by Elder Joseph are as follows:

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,

'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight. 

When true simplicity is gain'd,

To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

'Till by turning, turning we come round right.

 
These details and more fascinating facts on “Simple Gifts” and other Shaker music are available from music scholar Roger Lee Hall at American Music Preservation. You can also listen to a few renditions of the song, hosted by the Running After my Hat blog, here, here, and here.

Attributed to Elder Joseph Brackett of the Alfred Shaker Ministry, June 28, 1848. Manuscript penned by Eldress Mary Hazzard of the New Lebanon Shaker Ministry. Alfred Shaker Museum

Restoring Pleasant Hill

It's been two hundred years since the Runyon family arrived at Pleasant Hill. Thanks to its restoration, begun 50 years ago, we can walk the grounds, eat a meal in the Trustee's Office, and listen to a song in the meeting house...and experience a bit of what life was like in the early days.

The mission of Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, a non-profit corporation, is to preserve and maintain the site of the Shaker community which once existed here; to protect its buildings, its countryside and the records and articles pertaining to its builders; to make these buildings and grounds available for the broader uses of culture, education and recreation benefiting the citizens of Kentucky and others who visit the Commonwealth.


Update: Unfortunately the video Restoring Plesant Hill is now listed as Private on Youtube.