The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 111

SHAKERTOWN MUSEUM Continued I 1. 01 J) JIl MM" A striking degree of symmetry is apparent in above view of the entrance to first-floor exhibit room. More descriptive panels are in the exhibit room. Inspecting one of new panels which tell Shakers' history is James Cogar, executive director, Shakertown at Pleasant Hill, KyM Inc. The Shakers were in a formed the ceremonial dance which helped give them their name.

The exhibits under glass are expertly assembled and identified. Most of the exhibits have been donated to the restoration corporation from individuals whose families obtained them from the Shakers. The most striking feature of the museum now is the system of panels, especially in one of the downstairs exhibit rooms. These artistic panels tell the story of the Shakers, their rise and decline at the Pleasant Hill colony, their way of life and their system of government. The first panel, at the targe room's entrance, tays: This is Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, on whose meadows and hills a Shaker colony once existed.

You are invited to turn your thoughts for a while to a way of life that prospered, waned, and is no more. Here is the story of a search for the perfect society by a devout visionary people. They lifted their hands to work and their hearts to God." The panel story begins in May, 1774, when the Shaker prophetess, Mother Ann Lee, and eight of her English disciples left Liverpool, England, aboard the ship Marian bound for New York. The little group arrived in port on August after a fearful voyage. During a terrible storm, when hope was almost gone, Mother Lee, according to Shaker tradition, told the captain, "Be of good cheer.

I just saw two bright angels of God standing by the mast, through whom I received this promise." Just then so the story goes a wave struck the ship's loose planks, driving them back into place, and the ship was saved. In the museum's upper hall, the symmetrical appearance is still prevalent It is accounted for in part by the two stairways, side by side one for men and the other for women. Exhibit cases line walls. fist' iaM. ''it'liT i i ii ii Outside view of the museum at right shows steps under tree at left leading up to two front doors one for men and one for women.

The white-limestone building was Shaker Center Family Residence. THI COUBIBB-iOURNAL-MAOAIINI.