Getting restless

As we head into the downside of winter, I'm feeling a need to hit the road. The days are getting longer and we're having more sun, yet the air remains chilled and the wind has sharp teeth. It's what they call "second winter" in the mountains of New Mexico. My thoughts, however, are jumping ahead to summer.

Not just summer, but to  the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill. Since it originally was a religious community, let's start in the church or meeting house.

It's a large space with no interior supports to interfere with the movement of worshipers during their dances or marches. And the acoustics are unbelievable.

The Centre, or Church, Family dwelling is just across the road in front of the meeting house and serves as the major museum building on the site.

Step inside and you will be greeted by a tour guide who will give you an overview of the village and the museum. You are then free to wander about the three floors and basement at your own pace. There are always guides around to answer your questions.

The dwelling is essentially a large dormitory with its own kitchen, dining, and common areas. The photo above shows a typical "retiring room," or bedroom. At the height of the village, a room might sleep 3 to 5 Shakers. As membership declined, Believers eventually got their own rooms.

Unlike some Shaker museums, the items on display here are all authentic, Shaker-made antiques. You'll find no reproductions displayed here, although the lodging available to overnight guests has only reproductions, for obvious reasons.

Stairways flank the central hall on each floor. Women would have been restricted to using the one on the left; men would have been restricted to the one on the right. Although floors were coed, just like in college, the women's and men's retiring rooms are on opposite sides of the central hall.

The top floor was reserved for storage, here being cases for out-of-season clothing. Natural light illuminates the storage area.

I think it's time to get the calendar out and start planning a trip. Gotta find a cure for cabin fever.

Silent Saturday

Breaks Interstate Park

When I was a child, my father told me about "the breaks of the Big Sandy," a spot he had traveled to as a young man. He never took me, and I never got around to going for myself. That changed a couple of months ago when, traveling through western Virginia, my wife suggested we take a side trip. I'm all about side trips.

It's called the breaks because the Russell Fork of the Big Sandy River "breaks" through Pine Mountain as it flows north to the Ohio River.

The gorge it carved is 1,000 feet deep and there are sheer cliffs at its sides. There is a roadway on one side of the river and a railroad track on the other.

Where there's no room for either, tunnels have been cut through the mountains.

It's a stark, beautiful land.

While we watched, a train crawled from a tunnel far below us.

Two CSX diesel locomotives pulled a string of loaded coal cars at a snail's pace. They were heading upstream, and undoubtedly were climbing a grade that was steeper than it looked from our post. If you can see them, there are gated chutes along the bottoms of the coal cars through which the coal will be dumped. These cars are of an older design than the ones (shown here) designed to be dumped from the top.

At the end of the train were two more diesel locomotives, pushers to help the train climb the grade.

Breaks Interstate Park is operated by a joint commission between the states of Kentucky and Virginia. It's located just south of Elkhorn City, Kentucky. It's operated as a resort park with lodging, food service, camping, recreation, and a gift shop. We bought a miner's helmet with an attached lamp for our granddaughter. (Shhh! It's a surprise.)

There's a swimming pool for the kids and a small lake.

Right now should be a good time to visit. I'll bet the colors are really good.

Sunday Morning

1807 Morgan Row

Harrodsburg is Kentucky's oldest town, having been founded in 1774 by James Harrod, an early Kentucky explorer. Once a part of Virginia, Harrodsburg served as the seat of government for the then Kentucky County. This magnificent row house was built in 1807 by Joseph Morgan, whose tavern quickly became the business and social center for the town. An historic marker in front notes that in 1836 it hosted a reunion of survivors of the Battle of the Thames, a decisive victory by the Americans over the British in the War of 1812. In attendance for the reunion was Richard M. Johnson, who the following year would become Vice President of the United States under Martin Van Buren. It was said that Johnson personally killed Tecumseh, leader of the Indian forces, at the Battle of the Thames. He used this to his advantage during the election, campaigning with the slogan "Rumpsey Dumpsey, Rumpsey Dumpsey, Colonel Johnson killed Tecumseh." Four years later he and Van Buren were replaced by William Henry Harrison and John Tyler. Ironically, Harrison had been Johnson's commander at the Battle of the Thames.

Today the row house is commercial and museum space. The brightly painted doors give variety to the facade, as well as inviting patrons into the building.

Sunday Morning

I stopped to photograph this church for one of my regular Sunday Morning posts. Then I saw this historical marker in front of the church and suddenly the church demanded more than that.

The marker ties this church to the Second Great Awakening in North America, an event taking place when this part of Kentucky was the frontier of the United States, and an event that gave rise to a number of modern protestant church denominations, including this one's.

The Second Great Awakening began on the frontier around 1800, but reached its zenith the following year when some 20,000 people were drawn to a camp meeting at Cane Ridge, near present day Paris, KY. These camp meetings lasted over several days and featured near continuous preaching by multiple preachers representing many denominations, but dominated by Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians. The services became very charismatic, with participants being overtaken by the Holy Spirit, shaking, writhing, falling down in a faint, and speaking in unknown tongues. It was these mass revivals that attracted the attention of Shaker leadership at New Lebanon, New York, resulting in the dispatch of three missionaries to the west and the ultimate founding of Shaker Communities in Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana.

Two of the more important preachers attracted to the revivals were Barton W. Stone, a "New Light" Presbyterian, and Alexander Campbell, who together led what has become known as the Restoration Movement, seeking "the unification of all Christians in a single body patterned after the church of the New Testament." From this movement emerged the modern denominations of the Church of Christ, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and several independent churches known variously as Christian Churches or Churches of Christ.

 It's interesting that this church began in 1783 as a Baptist church, but changed its affiliation as a result of the influence of Campbell and Stone. Just imagine the even greater shift in theology required of the converts to the Shaker church, including adopting celibacy and communal ownership of all property. The Second Great Awakening surely was a profound experience for all who attended. I'm almost sorry I missed it. Almost ...

Silent Saturday

Appalachian Amish

When someone says the word "Amish," most people think of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the familiar "Pennsylvania Dutch" country. With an average of 6.8 children per family, the Amish are one of the fastest-growing populations in the world and are spreading into other states in search of available farm land. We have a couple of communities just across the state line in Kentucky.  Among the most conservative of groups in the Mennonite/Anabaptist movement, their simple lifestyle sets them in sharp contrast to modern America, and sometimes at odds with their neighbors.

The first thing one notices on entering an Amish community is the preponderance of horse-drawn vehicles.

In rejecting ties to the world and temptation to pride, Amish do not own or operate motor vehicles, although they are quite willing to ride in one if need be and if it is driven by a non-Amish. They may even pay an "English" (i.e., non-Amish) neighbor to drive them to visit a doctor or distant family member.

And motor vehicles are common in their communities, driven by neighbors, customers of Amish-owned businesses, and tourists.

Farm implements are horse-drawn, and other machinery may be, as well.

A horse-powered sugar-cane mill

And "Shank's Mare" is still a common form of transportation.

We were there to visit an Amish woodworker. I wish I could have gotten photos inside his shop; it was the envy of all of us who like to make sawdust. He had every piece of woodworking machinery available, and all of it was top quality. But he operated it without electricity. Each machine had been modified to be run off a flexible shaft. A system of clutches sent power to the machine in use. The flexible shaft was driven by a treadmill just outside the shop, which was powered by a mule. He had a brake inside the shop that stopped and started the treadmill, effectively turning the machinery on and off.

And when he wasn't operating his woodworking tools, the shaft could send power to his wife's wringer washing machine, located just outside the shop.

We also have several Mennonite communities in the area, most of which are visibly less conservative than the Amish, driving cars and having electricity and telephones. There is one old-order Mennonite group nearby in Kentucky that to our untrained eyes aren't distinguishable from Amish.  One thing we have learned, however, is that all of them, Amish and Mennonite, are good people and pleasant to do business with.