Note: The beautiful spiral staircases were made by hand in the 1830's.
Many of the buildings were designed and built under the leadership of Micajah Burnett, a talented civil engineer, mechanic, and mill wright.
The community did well From 1805 until the civil war. Times were difficult during the civil war, as the shakers fed both union and confederate troops and barely had enough to eat themselves. Things improved a bit after the war, until 1900. After that it was a steady decline until the last Pleasant Hill shaker died around 1960. After 1923, only a handful of shakers were still living here.