Monday, May 7th
Lexington, KY
A trip to Danville and tour of McDowell House & Apothecary. Dr. Ephraim McDowell made medical history on Christmas morning 1809 when he performed what is widely regarded as the first successful abdominal surgery. This house has been beautifully restored. The Apothecary Shop houses one of the world's most extensive collection of historic apothecary equipment and related artifacts.
Once again, no pictures allowed inside the home.
Next we visited the Shaker Village, there are only three in the US. And, there are only 3 Shakers still alive, two women in their 70's and one man 59 years old. The name "Shaker" was given to the group because of the charismatic trembling or shaking in worship services. This Shaker community is called Pleasant Hill, established in 180 In 1910 the village officially closed and the last Pleasant Hill Shaker died in 1923. In 1961a group of private citizens created a not-for-profit organization with the mission of preserving the remaining Shaker structures and farmland. We had a nice tour of the village we were fortunate to be able to see sheep being shirred, the wool being prepared for the spinning wheel and then the finished product being woven for formal attire along with some pieces for use in the ktichen such as kitchen towels, place mats, table runners.
Examples of rock fences. Just a little under the dirt is limestone that had to be cleared from the farmlands. Beautiful fences were made with the limestone
A typical house. The men, or brothers, lived on one side and the women (sisters) lived on the other side. They did not believe in procreation. They took a vow of celibacy.
A little ways down the road was Shaker Landing where we took a ride on a paddle boat on the Kentucky River.
This is the New High Bridge. The old High Bridge was replaced with this one mainly because trains became bigger and heavier
The New High Bridge
That's about it for tonight.
Safe Travels to All
Joe and Nancy
Interesting the Shaker tradition didn't carry on.
ReplyDeleteThat's a place I would like to visit. I think all those sects like the Shakers, the Amish, Amana Colonies, etc, are so interesting. Did you every go to the Aurora Colony in Oregon, just south of Portland? There's not much there besides a museum, but it was still interesting.
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