Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, or Shakertown, as it is known by residents of the area, is located 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Lexington, in Kentucky's Bluegrass region.

A revival was characterized by large camp meetings, where ministers from various Protestant groups would preach for long periods, with music and dancing often adding to the emotional pitch of the congregation.

Lucy Wright, the head of the Shakers' parent Ministry at New Lebanon, New York, decided to send missionaries west.

[2] Traveling more than a thousand miles, most of the way on foot, they joined the pioneers then pouring into the western lands by way of Cumberland Gap and the Ohio River.

In December 1806, forty-four converts of legal age signed a covenant agreeing to mutual support and the common ownership of property.

They began living together on the 140 acres (57 ha) farm of Elisha Thomas, whose lands formed the nucleus of the Pleasant Hill Shaker village.

On June 2, 1814, 128 Believers bound themselves together in a more formal covenant, which established the community in the pattern of the Shaker Ministry's village at New Lebanon, New York.

"[7] Over the years they expanded their land holdings by acquiring adjacent farms for orchards and fields, and fenced it with stone walls.

[6] One of their barns included an upper floor for storage of grain and hay, a cutting machine for chopping fodder, and an ingenious railway for delivering feed to the cattle.

Members who made up the Pleasant Hill society mostly came from the region and, as a result, may have had a variety of views on the war and slavery, although this cannot be proven by the sources.

)[citation needed] Pleasant Hill was at risk during the war, although it did not suffer as much damage as its sister colony at South Union, Kentucky.

[10] More importantly, the social environment and cultural changes in the decades before and after the war made Shaker life less appealing for converts.

So-called "Winter Shakers", impoverished locals feigning interest in joining the colony during the cold season, were a drain on the village, and rarely earned their keep.

[13] Many visitors to Pleasant Hill, observing the nineteenth-century architecture, crafts, and clothing, mistakenly assume that the Shakers, like the Amish, rejected technological advancements.

A horse-drawn pump lifted water into the tower, and from there a system of pipes conveyed it to the kitchens, cellars, and wash houses.

Music was an important part of Shaker life, with the community performing songs, hymns and anthems written by both men and women.

The Meeting House was converted for use as an automotive garage; the wood floor, built to withstand the dancing of several hundred brethren and sisters, proved strong enough to support the vehicles driven onto its surface.

In 1961, a group of Lexington-area citizens led by Joseph Graves and Earl D. Wallace launched an effort to restore the property.

By 1964 the Friends of Pleasant Hill had organized a non-profit corporation, raised funds for operating expenses, and secured a $2 million federal loan to purchase and restore the site.

James Lowry Cogar, a former Woodford County resident and first curator of Colonial Williamsburg, was recruited to oversee the complex preservation project.

Today, with 34 original 19th-century buildings and 2,800 acres (1100 hectares) of farmland, Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill claims to be "the largest historic community of its kind in America."