Return to Pleasant Hill

Copyright © 2020 by Allen F. Harrod.

ISBN:       Hardcover               978-1-7960-7595-3

                 Softcover                 978-1-7960-7594-6

                 eBook                       978-1-7960-7593-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 12/04/2019

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Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

M Y SPECIAL THANKS to the staff at Pleasant Hill, who in the tradition of the original Shakers, was always helpful while I did research there. In addition, these books by Edward Deming Andrews, The Community Industries of the Shakers: The People Called Shakers, Shaker Furniture, and Work and Worship: The Economic Order of the Shakers; James Archambeault, The Gift of Pleasant Hill, Thomas D. Clark, Pleasant Hill and Its Shakers and Pleasant Hill in the Civil War; Thomas D. Clark and F. Gerakd Ham, Pleasant Hill and the Shakers ; C larke Garrett, Origins of the Shakers –From the Old World to the New; Gerald F. Ham, Shakerism In the Old West and Pleasant Hill Hill-A Century of Kentucky Shakerism (1805-1910): Julia Neal, Stephen J. Stein, in his Masterful work, The Shaker Experience in America, all these provided factual insights into Shaker life and beliefs.

The main characters in the novel are fictitious, but limited Romances did blossom in all the Shaker communities across America. Historical Characters associated with the Shakers Society make their appearance in the book. I have tried to be faithful in representing lifestyle and beliefs accurately. The cover picture is provided by the Library of Congress photographer Lester Jones. It is the interior view of the Centre Family House from the second floor. Note the double stairwells-one for the men and one for the women. My thanks to Courtnie Morine for editing the book.

And finally, to my daughter Elizabeth Schulte who made valuable suggestions, always encouraged me, and formatted the book.

PREFACE

T HIS BOOK IS a sequel to my previous book Romance at Pleasant Hill. Although a Preface usually contains a brief introduction to a present book, I think it would be helpful to do a brief review of the previous book.

Romance at Pleasant Hill begins with thirteen boys who were adopted from an orphanage in New Orleans by Trustee Micajah Burnett on a marketing trip of Shaker wares such as brooms, seeds, medical herbs and fruit preserves. Two of those boys, while given fictitious names David Matthews and Henry DeVoe became roommates and fast friends through life.

David worked on the Shaker Ferry below the village. There he met Captain Hillard Manning who became a devoted confidant. It was on the Ferry that David was introduced to the beautiful young Sarah Miles. The Shakers were celibate and were forbidden to interact with the other sex, the female living in one side of the large house and the males another. Separate stairs led to their sleeping quarters and they were prohibited from conversation with people of the world-anyone that was not a Shaker.

But love finds a way. Secretly David leaves the Village and meets with Sarah and her father Thomas Miles. In time David leaves Pleasant Hill to work for Thomas Miles in his local grocery store and to be near Sarah. Winning the hearts of not only Sarah, but the affection of her parents, he proposes and marries Sarah. They moved to nearby Nicholasville where he works in a bank and she teaches English and Literature. Three children bless their family-Luke, Benjamin and Ruth. The story closes around the family fireplace.

Return to Pleasant Hill deals with the struggles to uncover David and Henry’s past in New Orleans, returning to the declining Village of Pleasant, and the struggles of a couple’s loss of a child, the temptation to violate sacred marriage vows, and the growing bond of love between a husband and wife.

CHAPTER ONE

T WO MEN FRESH from the Civil War knocked vigorously at the large oak door of the East Family Shaker House of Pleasant Hill. Oddly, one was dressed in a worn Union uniform and the other in a tattered Confederate uniform. It was difficult to call it a uniform, though, as it was ravaged far by war. Two holes stood out on the bloodstained coat; the sleeves and collar were frayed; the grey in the trousers was faded from wear and washing. They were brothers from Finchville, Kentucky, a small village outside Shelbyville, trying to get home. Miraculously, they had met up at Appomattox where, after four years of war, a weary General Robert E. Lee signed a formal surrender to Ulysses S. Grant at the Courthouse three days earlier on June 2, 1865. They had traveled from Virginia to Kentucky, selling their horses for food and board mid-way on their journey home. Walking for much of their journey, the pair was able to hitch rides on the back of sympathetic farmers’ wagons along the way, often fed by strangers. As they traveled across the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, many grew suspicious of them and refused to be hospitable and take them in. However, the brothers had heard that the Shaker Village would provide food and a place to sleep for them.

Our quarters are full, said an Elder of the Village, standing in the doorway, but you can sleep in the loft of the cow barn if you’d like. As for food, give us some time, and you will have plenty to eat. They will be leftovers from our evening meal.

That would be excellent; we are very hungry, said the Union soldier. We haven’t eaten in days. After a few minutes, roast wild turkey with stuffing, a large bowl of gravy, butter beans, beets, and several homemade sourdough biscuits were brought out. The brothers ate everything on their plates as the shared their war stories.

Their Shaker hosts had lots of questions about their war experiences: How did one of you end up in the Union Army and the other in the Confederate? Where is Finchville? What are your names? What do you plan to do now that the war is over? Are both of your parents living? What does your father do for a living? The questions seem never to end from the curious but pacifist Shakers.

Bobby Roberts, said the older of the two men, extending his hand. Randy Roberts, said the shorter young man in the tattered Confederate uniform. Our father is deceased, died of a heart attack two years ago while we were away at war.

Mom, said Bobby, has been doing all she can to keep the farm up. We will be taking over the reigns as soon as we get home.

Is there anything else you need? asked Refus.

No, said Bobby, that meal was great, rubbing his stomach.

Rufus Bryant, Jr., Elder over the dairy barn, stood up, I will show you to the hay loft. Sister Mary Cummings will get you some quilts. It is supposed to snow tonight. Breakfast will be served at 6 o’clock in the dining room. Men sit on the east side and women on the west.

Mary Cummings, I thought I recognized you! Aren’t you from Bagdad, Kentucky? quizzed the man in the Union uniform.

She looked at him without acknowledging his question. It was not proper for a female Shaker to carry on a conversation with someone of the world. Elder Rufus answered for her. Her husband dropped her and their two children off here three years ago. It seems he was interested in making money out West in the gold mines.

Thanks for the meal and a place to sleep tonight. We would be glad to work for your hospitality, said Randy, standing to up brush the crumbs from his lap.

That won’t be necessary, said Elder Jones.

That night a snowstorm blew in from the east, covering the ground with six inches of snow. The brothers spent two more days and nights at the Shaker’s table and