With chickens in a yard

“Portrait of Jane Sutton with chickens in a yard between buildings,” part of the Winterthur Shaker photographs and postcards collection.

This photo looks like it must have been taken at the southwest corner of the Trustee's Office, as that is the only large brick building that has a back addition flush with the front on its west side. This is the spot where visitors approach from the parking lot today.

The photo appeals to me for three reasons. First, it shows action - farm work in progress - rather than the typical "sit on the steps for your portrait" shot. Second, Jane is a Runyon descendant (granddaughter of Joseph and Jane/Ginny). Third, it shows that Pleasant Hill was a working farm in the way that you might expect a Shaker farm to be... orderly but not perfect, and not pristine as a visit to the restored village today might suggest.

Off to Frankfort

One of the Shakertown journals in the Filson Historical Society Special Collections available digitized is this one, which includes nineteen pages of entries from the year 1816. Most are related to the weather conditions but starting with image 10, the subject matter turns to comings and goings and various projects at Pleasant Hill. Phineas, William, and Joseph Runyon are each mentioned, the latter two traveling to nearby towns - Lexington, Danville, Frankfort. Most of the trips seem to have taken 3 to 4 days.

Here is an entry for Joseph Runyon's excursion to Frankfort to sell carpets, Monday, February 19, 1816:

Aliens from the Sheepfold

I've often wondered what neighboring villages and farmers thought of the society of Shakers at Pleasant Hill. I found one reference while researching a different branch of the family who lived in Garrard County, southeast of Mercer County. It comes from "The song of Lancaster, Kentucky, To the statesmen, soldiers, and citizens of Garrard county," written by Eugenia Dunlap Potts in 1874.

Page 14 of The song of Lancaster, Kentucky, To the statesmen, soldiers, and citizens of Garrard county.
Eugenia Dunlap Potts, May, 1874.

LOC Resources

The Library of Congress is such a valuable resource for genealogists and so much of the collection is now online, including the D.G. Beers & Co. maps from the late nineteenth century.

Here is the D.G. Beers map for the Pleasant Hill portion of Mercer County. You can find the complete map online at Loc.gov.

Map of Boyle & Mercer counties, Kentucky
D.G. Beers & Co.
H.J. Toudy & Co.
Worley & Bracher.
Philadelphia : D.G. Beers & Co., 1876