The Shaker faith held that men and women were equal. Although men and women were considered equal, male and female members worked, ate, and slept separately. Work duties were separate, but equal. Women worked at traditionally female occupations of food preparation and preservation, sewing, and cleaning; men performed traditionally male duties of farming and manufacturing.
By the late 1800s, membership was declining in the Shaker villages. A majority of the remaining members were female. This photograph features five female Shakers and one male Shaker on the steps of the Centre Family Dwelling at the Pleasant Hill, Kentucky village, demonstrating this shifting demographic.
The Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill, Kentucky was established in 1805. Around 500 people resided in the village in the 1820s and the community owned over 4,000 acres of land. Due to declining membership and economic changes in the wider world, Pleasant Hill closed as an active religious society in 1910. The last Shaker in the village, Sister Mary Settles, died in 1923. The land, buildings, and furnishings passed into private hands. In 1961, a private nonprofit organization, Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, was founded to restore the historic property and today, Pleasant Hill is the largest restored Shaker village offering a hotel, restaurant, and many activities.
Image courtesy of Archives of Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill, Kentucky