The Kentucky Chautauqua will present "Mary Settles: The Last Shaker at Pleasant Hill" Friday, April 19 at the South Union Shaker Village’s Centre House Meeting Room. The program, which begins at 7:30 p.m., is open and free to the public.
Mary Settles (1835-1923) was born October 31, 1835, in Louisville. Her mother, Mary Ann, died during childbirth, leaving Mary to be raised by her father, Daniel.
Mary developed a love for learning at an early age and was drawn to teaching immediately. She was teaching in the Louisville Public School system when she married Frank Settles.
News of settlers in Missouri carving out a new station traveled rapidly, and Mary’s husband was eager to join them. Frank planned that he and Mary would have a large family – at least 10 children – to work the land.
When May gave birth to their second child, she nearly died. The midwife told her she could not have any more children. This didn’t fit into Frank’s plans to go to Missouri, so he took Mary and their two children to Pleasant Hill, Ky. Leaving Mary “a widow” and the children without a father, Frank left his family in the care of the Shakers.
Over time, Mary embraced the Shaker community and they, her. She took on Shaker life which called for equality for women, celibacy, simple living, seeking salvation, and living communally. She began teaching again, and for 27 years, she educated the young women at Pleasant Hill.
Like the rest of America, Pleasant Hill was changed forever by the Civil War. With the battle coming to their back door, the Shakers did what they could to help the hungry and wounded soldiers, but they refused to involve themselves in the politics of the war.
In the end, Mary was the last of the Pleasant Hill Shakers. She died on March 29, 1923, in the Centre Family House and was buried in the cemetery at Pleasant Hill.
Janet Scott portrays Mary Settles for Kentucky Chautauqua. Scott is the co-founder of On the Verge theatre group. She served as the director of the Acting Workshop for the Osher Life Long Living Institute at the University of Kentucky from 2004-2010. Scott is the recipient of the Arts Educator of the Year Award from the Kentucky Chapter of the National Society of Arts and Letters. She graduated summa cum laude with honors in the theatre from Columbia University. She studied acting with Stella Adler and had thirty-year-professional career in theatre in New York.
Kentucky Chautauqau is an exclusive presentation of the Kentucky Humanities Council, Inc. with support from Scripps Howard Foundation, Lindsey Wilson College, the Cralle Foundation, the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels, Peoples Bank & Trust Company of Hazard, the Brown-Foreman Corporation, Union College, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Western Kentucky University, PNC Bank in Lexington, and Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America, Inc.
The Kentucky Humanities Council is a non-profit Kentucky corporation affiliated with the National Endowment for the Humanities. It is not a state agency, but is a proud partner of Kentucky’s tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet. For information, visit www. Kyhumanities.org or call (859) 257 -5932