Just outside of Harrodsburg, KY is a past settlement of a group of Shakers. We got there about lunch time so we had lunch in the restaurant and poked around in the gift shops. The Village is open to visitors for a fee – we skipped wandering around from building to building. It was stifling hot and it didn’t seem very inviting.
The Village is run by a non-profit, since there aren’t any Shakers around. From reading a little bit on wikipedia, the Shakers came from England, a spin-off religious group from the Quakers. The Shakers didn’t believe in sex so they recruited additional members and adopted children if they wanted to have family. Not surprisingly, their numbers dwindled.
The did make great furniture, though. One of the buildings had some pieces of furniture, made in the Shaker style, for sale and they were quite nice. Simple, clean lines, functional.