Canterbury Tales

Henry Clay Blinn, born 1842, was just age 14 years old when he made the decision to join the Shakers. Blinn had learned about a Shaker man who was visiting near his home in Providence, Rhode Island and felt compelled to meet the man and find out about his lifestyle. 

After a meeting between Henry, his mother, and the stranger, and upon learning about the Shaker community at Canterbury, New Hampshire, Blinn made the decision that would change his life forever. 

Accompanied by his new Shaker friend, Blinn began the journey that would take him over 130 miles by train, stagecoach, and wagon to the village at Canterbury in Merrimack County. 

He described the journey in his autobiography, published after his death in 1905:

"On the day appointed for my departure from the city, I was hurrying at an early hour to the railroad station at India Point. It was the journey of a young Pilgrim, after many hurried farewells to dear friends, some of whom protested against the wild scheme of going amoung the mountains of New Hampshire to find a home, and to be entrusted to the care of an entire stranger, while others dismissed the case with and anxious hope for the better. 

"I was soon, however, on my way to Boston in company with the Shaker, Nathan Willard, as he had agreed to take charge of me. At Boston we took the cars for Lowell, the terminus of the railroad at that date, going north. From Lowell, we rode to Concord, N.H., in a stage, and then hired a private conveyance to Shaker Village. Our trip from Concord was over the pine plains, through Loudon Village and over Beck's Hill. On reaching this last elevated spot, the whole of the Church Family was presented to view, and the presentation was a beautiful picture on the mind. At that date, the white and light yellow houses with bright red roofs, heightened the beauty of the village very much and to my youthful mind, after a long and tedious journey, it seemed to be the prettiest place I had ever seen."

Photo from the Library of Congress collection:

Also from the LOC collection: Diagram of the south part of Shaker Village, Canterbury, NH

Shaker Trustees' Building – Second Chance at Life

A small Shaker community, founded in 1826 in Sodus, New York, relocated a decade later to western New York’s Genesee Valley. The land there was part of the hamlet of Sonyea, in the southwest corner of the Town of Groveland in Livingston County (New York counties are divided up into smaller divisions called towns). 

1852 Smith & Gillett map of Livingston County showing Town of Groveland 

By mid-1838 the move was complete and the Shakers settled as East and West families, building shops, barns, residences, a gristmill and three-story sawmill, and, circa 1839, a new office building at Groveland for the Trustees of the East family. This Trustees' building was also known, not by the Shakers but later by the Board of Managers of the institution that acquired the property, as the "Chestnut." 

As was the case in all Shaker communities, Trustees were the men and women of the community who managed the economic affairs on behalf of the community. Their building often served multiple uses but primarily as an office where business with the outside world was conducted. Trustees' buildings often reflected the Shaker commitment to simplicity and practicality in architecture.

Article from 1987 shows the Trustee's building at its new site in Mumford, New York

By 1892, the Groveland community, once populated by as many as 150 individuals, had been reduced to just 34 and had to close its doors. Shaker brother Hamilton DeGraw wrote in the Mount Morris Union newspaper on Thursday, October 20, 1892 an article "intended as a farewell greeting to dear friends and neighbors." He said: "The final and crucial test of any organization whether religious, societal or political, lies not in its popularity but in the amount of actual work done for human development." He went on to acknowledge "deep feelings of gratitude that we all feel for the kindly manifestations of sympathy and love that have been expressed by the community since the knowledge of our removal was made public. We have many attachments that endear us to the people of the Genesee Valley and Western New York, and tho' removed in body our prayers and sympathy will be with the people here."

DeGraw and the remaining members moved to the Watervliet, NY community (aka Niskayuna). The Groveland property was sold, for charitable use, to New York State and from 1894 to the 1980s the land and buildings housed an institution for people with epilepsy. 

In 1984, Genesee Country Village & Museum, an educational institution established in 1966 with the goal of preserving the architecture of the Genesee Valley region in a recreated historic village, acquired the Trustee’s building and moved it about 24 miles north to their property at Mumford, Wayne County.  

The colonial style timber frame with wood clapboard siding had a symmetrical façade, with evenly spaced windows, chimneys at either end, and a central hallway with staircase. The building housed a kitchen, dining room, office, and store. The top floor attic space was reportedly used as an infirmary. The meetinghouse at Groveland, built in 1842 and destroyed by fire in the first half of the 20th century, was reportedly painted a light blue, deviating from the traditional white reserved for Shaker houses of worship. Instead, it seems, the Shakers at Groveland painted their Trustee's building white.

Groveland Shaker Trustee’s building, restored and painted white 

Since 1982, the New York State Department of Corrections has operated Groveland Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison for males, at the site of the old Shaker community.

Beauty in Trusswork

I recently had the privilege of touring one of the surviving privately owned West Family structures from the Watervliet, New York community and took this photo of the attic space, the afternoon sunlight streaming through.

Benson Lossing - An Artist's Visit with the Shakers

 I recently came across a video posted in 2018 of a talk and slideshow given by Rob Emlen, University Curator and Senior Lecturer in American Studies at Brown University (retired). Emlen gives a fascinating talk that covers many things Shaker but most interestingly to me is his description of historian and artist Benson Lossing's sketches and watercolors done during his visit to the Mount Lebanon, New York community in August 1856.

A watercolor depicting a Shaker worship service in 1856, by artist Benson Lossing, from his visit to the Mount Lebanon, New York community in August of that year.

Lossing's sketches were published in black and white but viewing the watercolors gives us a glimpse into the paint colors used on the Shaker buildings, and more.

Internet Archive hosts An Early view of the Shakers : Benson John Lossing and the Harper's article of July 1857, with reproductions of the original sketches and watercolors, published by Hancock Shaker Village in 1989 that includes Lossing's sketches, colorized drawings, and his account of his visit among the Shakers.

Lossing sketches from 1856

West Family Preserve House

My last post showed a couple of different maps of Pleasant Hill's main cluster of buildings at the spot where US route 63 intersected with Kentucky route 33 before restoration of the village. One of the surviving original Shaker structures is the West Family preserve house, built in 1859 and sandwiched between the West Family wash house and the West Family sister's shop. 

Thanks to the Historic American Buildings Survey, a pre-restoration photo of the preserve house from 1940 exists in the Library of Congress collection.

The building as it appeared in 1940

History buffs/nerds/geeks like me will appreciate the card catalog entry for the photo that has been preserved in the collection:

The Water House at Pleasant Hill

 Pleasant Hill produced this short and informative video on preservation at Pleasant Hill, with a focus on the water house.

The Library of Congress has archival material on the water house.

Looking Back ... 1912

Pleasant Hill - looking north from the East Family buildings

Shakertown Inn

1897 - The Shaker Hotel was opened for boarders by Sister Jane Sutton in the East Family dwelling. It subsequently became known as the Shakertown Inn, an effort by the few remaining Shakers to keep financially solvent.
                                                         

You can see the embedded stone in the brick between the second and third floors. It reads 1817. The East Family dwelling was built of Shaker-made brick and in 1826, Mercy Runyon was living in the Elders room here. Amy Runyon worked here as a nurse and caretaker of girls; Betsy and Amy Runyon died here.

Every historic building has a story to tell

If you have an interest in architecture, and Kentucky architecture in particular, you'll enjoy Gardens to Gables, a blog and website by architectural historian Janie-Rice Brother. Like me, Janie-Rice believes every historic building has a story to tell.
 

Photo by Janie-Rice Brother

Building Pleasant Hill

The Runyon family members arriving at Pleasant Hill in the early years of the 19th century would have been placed in various buildings that were available, notably, the "old fraim house" and a log house. Over the years, a regular shuffling of people from one dwelling to another was taking place. 

The Believers ranks apparently swelled to the point where some had to live during the warmer months in a camp. Shaker journals tell us that in September 1809, the Believers "built a log house, weatherboarded it & lathed & plastered it, which made quite a comfortable dwelling house. We moved in it in September. Bid a dieu to our camp." 

The old "fraim house" was occasionally occupied "by young Believers that would occasionally drop in for a time till at length the place was evacuated and the buildings mov'd away."  It was still in use in the fall of 1812 when newly-arrived converts Phineas and Charity Runyon were among its occupants. 

During 1809 the village's “First Stone House” was also completed (and may have been an early design by Micajah Burnett, the Pleasant Hill Shaker who went on to design the community's most impressive buildings). In August 1812, when the Center Family moved into the three story stone house, Embly Runyon was among them. Like many of the buildings, the first stone house was later re-purposed into the Farm Deacon’s Shop (it still stands today and is available for overnight accommodation. Likewise, the former blacksmith and wagonmaker’s shop was turned into museum shop and ticket office).

1809 "First Stone House" - now the Farm Deacon's Shop

1809 was a year of prolific building at Pleasant Hill. Journal records tell us that in the fall, a log house at the East Family was built for the special purpose of gathering the society's children (before this, the children were still living with their parents). The log house does not appear to have been used for the children right away. It is not until 1811 that Joseph Runyon (who had been serving as an Elder in the "fraim house") moved into "the loghouse to teach school" and other journal notes tell us the children were collected there in 1811. Their stay was apparently brief: On January 7, 1813 the North Family "mov'd up to the log school house ... it stood about 20 rods north of the three storyed Center stone house, then occupied by the School Family."

Runyons were again among those sharing the "fraim house" in December 1813 when Martin Runyon & family arrived at Pleasant Hill, with some remaining until January 1815. Later in 1815, Patience and Martin Runyon moved from the West Family to the North Family, Matilda Runyon moved from the North Family to the West Family, and Betsy Runyon moved from the East Family to the West Family. By the end of August 1816, a staggering 106 members comprised the West Family alone. Housing them must have been a full-time job.

The earliest buildings at Pleasant Hill faced west, in keeping with the tradition of the Shaker communities in the east.  But since prevailing winds in this part of Kentucky come from the southwest, the Believers asked for and were granted permission to reorient their structures. Turning the long sides to the west took advantage of solar heat, allowing more light to penetrate the interior. 

The Shaker Millennial Laws dictated materials and colors:  Dwelling houses should be either limestone or brick, outbuildings brick or painted clapboard (in colors of oxblood red, brown, ocher), interior floors should be stained reddish-yellow in the shops, and wood trim should be stained dark red for baseboards and blue for pinrails.

The East Family Dwelling, of Shaker-made brick, was completed in 1819 (and by 1826 Mercy Runyon was living in its Elders room). 

The Meeting House,  spiritual center of the community, was completed in 1820. Its first floor was constructed free of pillars to provide space for dancing during worship. Second floor apartments housed the village ministry which later included George Runyon.

In April 1826 a family was established at the grist mill composed chiefly of the former North Family. One of its elders was Sister Marcy Runyon.

The East Family Dwelling, the West Family Dwelling (completed 1822), and the Meeting House (1820) are all mature works of Micajah Burnett. The massive grey limestone Center Family Dwelling is considered his crowning achievement. Begun in 1824 and completed in 1834, the Center Family Dwelling served as the home of the First Order, "such persons as have had sufficient time and opportunity practically to prove the faith and manner of life of the Society, and who are prepared to enter freely, fully, and voluntarily into a united and consecrated interest." At almost 25,000 square feet, it was the largest building at Pleasant Hill. The limestone blocks ("Kentucky marble") were quarried locally from the Kentucky River palisades at the eastern edge of the Shaker property. William Runyon likely played a role in the fitting of the stones used in the Center dwelling, the foundation of the Meeting House, and many other structures at Pleasant Hill. In the 1850 census his occupation is listed as stone mason. 

The Center Family Dwelling housed as many as eighty Believers. Among them were William Runyon and Charlotte Runyon, and Joseph's wife Jane "Ginny" Runyon. Shaker journals tell us she moved from the shop to the Center dwelling in December 1842 and are precise to the point of saying she was given the "middle room 2nd story."  

The Trustee's Office, with its beautiful twin spiral staircases (also designed by the brilliant Micajah Burnett), was completed in 1839. This building served as offices and living quarters of the legal and financial leaders of the community, the trustees. Charlotte (Sally C.) Runyon was among the first to live here. Jane Sutton, Joseph Runyon, and Martin Runyon also served as trustees over the years. 

In total, the Shakers built over 250 structures at Pleasant Hill. Thirty-four of the surviving buildings were restored beginning in 1966. More on the architecture of Pleasant Hill can be found in the book Antebellum Architecture of Kentucky by Clay Lancaster (1991). And for some interesting column, balustrade, dormer, and staircase designs at Pleasant Hill check out Outside Sources for Shaker Building at Pleasant Hill by Mary Rae Chemotti (1981). For Shaker dwelling house architecture in general see Julie Nicoletta's article The Architecture of Control - Shaker Dwelling Houses and the Reform Movement in Early-Nineteenth-Century America.

A Village of Rare Beauty and Neatness

"Pleasant Hill is a small village of rare beauty and neatness situated on a commanding eminence about one mile from the Kentucky River, on the turnpike road from Lexington to Harrodsburg and seven miles from the latter place. It belongs exclusively to that orderly and industrious society called 'Shakers' and contained in 1870 a population of 362, divided into families from sixty to eighty each. Their main edifice is a large, handsome and costly structure built of Kentucky marble, the others, generally, are built of brick and all admirably arranged for comfort and convenience. The external and internal arrangement and neatness of their dwellings, the beauty and luxuriance of their gardens and fields, the method and economy displayed in their manufacturing and mechanical establishments, their orderly and flourishing schools, their sleek and well fed stock are all characteristic of this singular people and evidence a high degree of comfort and prosperity."

This is how, according to History of Kentucky, Vol. 5 (published 1922, Chicago) by Charles Kerr, a Kentucky historian writing circa 1870, described Pleasant Hill in his write-up of long time resident Dr. Pennebaker. Pennebaker was brought to the society as a boy by his uncle, Dr. Shain, after his parents both died within a week of each other. 

History of Kentucky expands on the description with: Outside of Mercer County this unique settlement is seldom heard of by Kentuckians, though at one time it was a thriving and prosperous community ... The first house was built in this settlement in 1805. The community supported its own flour, flax and saw mills, and was practically independent of the outside world. It was a community undertaking, and all the lands were owned and operated in common, and the products from the mills and looms were of a fine quality of wool, linen and cotton cloth. Today only a few of the old sect remain, the mills and shops having long gone to decay, though the houses of the village were built so substantially that they stand as firm as 100 years ago. 

Martha Stewart presents a short video on Pleasant Hill

Her website doesn't say when this video was produced but in less than 5 minutes, Martha Stewart gives a good overview of who the Shakers were, as she presents scenes from Pleasant Hill.

Pleasant Hill Shaker Village - MarthaStewart.com

Martha Stewart takes us to the Pleasant Hill Shaker Village near Lexington, Kentucky. The town museum's director provides some facts about this historical village.

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.

January 7th - On This Date in 1813

The North Family mov'd up to the log school house it stood about 20 rods north of the three storyed Center stone house, then occupied by the School Family, the Children having been collected there in 1811.

Exposing Stratigraphic Profiles

Kim McBride has spent decades studying the Shaker buildings of Pleasant Hill. Learn more about her work in this article published in American Archaeology in 2012.

Students work to uncover the location of the 1810

meeting house (American Archaeology - not credited)

A glass bead, clay marble, and animal bone button were among some of the artifacts discovered during  the excavation of the 1810 meeting house. Is it possible the Runyon children played with these toys? 

The Water House

From Antebellum Architecture of Kentucky by Clay Lancaster

In addition to the major buildings at Pleasant Hill, Micajah Burnett built a number of utilitarian structures. Of special interest is the water house (1833), northeast of the third stone Centre Family. It is a small, square, two-story frame shell containing a round cypress tank perched on high stone piers. Gravity caused the water to flow through iron pipes to residence kitchens and washhouses.  A floating gauge extending up through the roof could be seen from the Tanyard spring, so when the water level was low, the horse-powered pump could be started to fill the tank. This was one of the earliest water-supply systems in the West. 

The Water House

photo by artist Deb Ward

Order in Everything

It comes as no surprise that the Shakers, who were so fastidious about order and practicality, would invoke those same ideals when designing and planning their communities.  The main buildings at Pleasant Hill were built perpendicular to each other with those used as communal dwellings oriented to maximize the southern exposure. 

In ENCOUNTERING THE SHAKERS OF THE NORTH FAMILY LOT, UNION VILLAGE, OHIO: A Clean and Lively Appearance—Landscape andArchitecture of the North Family Lot, commissioned for the Ohio Department of Transportation in 2009 the authors compare Pleasant Hill with the the Ohio Shaker community called Union Village.

At Pleasant Hill, an evolution took place in the architectural style.  Early buildings dating to ca. 1810 have the typical horizontal proportions and the small, boxy, widely spaced windows  of the Western Shaker vernacular. While shop buildings continued to be constructed in this style at Pleasant Hill, subtle high-style Federal influence appeared in the communal dwellings at an early date. Several communal houses built from 1816 to 1822 at Pleasant Hill have tall, vertical, closely spaced windows, giving the houses more of the feel of the high style Federal aesthetic.

By 1824, Micajah Burnett, a Shaker builder and engineer at Pleasant Hill, was experimenting  with Federal architectural forms that included high-style Adamesque elements. Pleasant Hill shop buildings continued to be built in a plain, conservative style with small widely spaced windows well into the 1840s. At the same time, Burnett’s designs for dwellings took on more grand and worldly Federal architectural features. Pleasant Hill buildings with these features include the fourth Center Family House (1824–1834) and the Trustees’ Office (1839–1841). These two buildings have features like arched and three-part windows, mullioned fanlights, sidelights, balustrades, interior barrel vaults, and other graceful ornamental features typical of the Federal style.

Early map of Pleasant Hill (view, download, and zoom in at the LOC site)

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.

The Enigmatic Guilford Runyon

Shoemaker, doctor, or both?

Guilford Runyon, brought to the Pleasant Hill community by his parents Joseph and Jane Runyon in March 1810, was just eight years old when the family arrived. He would be one of four siblings who would leave the Shaker community.

From the Center Family journal:

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.

Kitty had died of malaria and never lived in the house that Guilford was building for them. Guilford called the house Honeysuckle Hill.

Photo from the Kentucky Digital Library collection

From Antebellum Architecture of Kentucky by Clay Lancaster:

The unique suburban house of substantial size at 712 Beaumont Avenue, Harrodsburg, was built for Dr. Guilford Runyan [sic]. He had been the physician in the Shaker village at nearby Pleasant Hill, but “returned to the world” in 1839 and purchased the thirty-five-acre tract for his home. He intended to marry a lady from the lower Mississippi region, but she died before the wedding…

After Dr. Runyan’s death, his sisters sold the house and returned to the Shakers. In 1881, the new owners built a service ell at the rear, incorporating the detached kitchen. Subsequently, the name Honeysuckle Hill was changed to Fair Oaks.

Pastoral Views of Pleasant Hill