South Union Shaker Center House and Preservatory

South Union Shaker Center House and Preservatory
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	U.S. 68, South Union, Kentucky
Coordinates	36°53′4″N 86°38′42″W
Area	9 acres (3.6 ha)
Built	1822
Architectural style	Federal
NRHP reference No.	74000891[1]
Added to NRHP	June 28, 1974

South Union Shaker Center House and Preservatory is a historic Shaker building on U.S. 68 in South Union, Kentucky. It was built in 1822 and added to the National Register in 1974. Located within the building is the Shaker Museum at South Union.

South Union was one of 24 villages built up by the Shakers. During the village's 115-year history, the Shakers constructed over 200 buildings, worked 6,000 acres (2,400 ha) of farmland, and produced garden seed, fruit preserves, brooms, baskets, rugs, linen, hats, bonnets and silk to be used both within the community and sold to the outside world. One of the best known Shaker songs today, "Love is little," originated at South Union during the 1830s.

The Shaker community there was disbanded in 1922, and the property sold to the Benedictines in 1949. There, they established an interracial monastery, the first of its kind in the United States.^[2]

As of 2010, there was only one Shaker community remaining active, the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village located at Sabbathday Lake, Maine.^[3][4][5]

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
2. Whitaker, Thomas (1969). "A Benedictine Link with the Shakers". The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society. 67 (4): 360–369. ISSN 0023-0243. JSTOR 23376905.
3. The Shakers Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, September 17, 2010
4. The last of the Shakers Busted Halo, April 13, 2010
5. Ouimet, Leanne (December 8, 2009). "Jeannine Lauber: Exploring the Modern Day Shakers". The Independent. UK. Archived from the original on February 23, 2012. Retrieved December 16, 2009.

External links