Restoring Shakertown: The Struggle to Save the Historic Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill by Thomas Parrish, Thomas D. Clark (review)

BOOK REVIEWS ship. Religious lead- I t 4, ers, especially black :1 clergy, were central to the movement. By the 1970s, white i churches had beco »ne · 6 + :'' j '': similarly engaged,of 9 3 6 -, ,»-· = ir , , 1 # ten spurred to action 4 * + ' 4 by the white fl ght that transformed the r churches and im »ned -ate communities. Yet = i ,/ all of these effoits had limited success. Black leade s were ultimately unable to wrest control from the white establish Tie it in c ty hall,and white churches discovered that many social problems,such as affordable housing,were beyond their means and skill to address. The final chapter of Mapes's book explores the current emphasis on faithbased initiatives, pioneered by Indianapolis's mayor Stephen Goldsmith in the 19905 and expanded to the national level during George W. Bush's presidency. Mapes views these efforts as a means to privatize the delivery and responsibility of social welfare, concluding that they are yet another case of casting welfare as public charity. She doubts the churches will be able to shoulder the burden any better now than they have in the past, and worries that in subcontracting services the state is shirking its duty to monitor their effectiveness. A Public Charity is a timely and wellresearched monograph. Mapes develops a reasonable critique of religious nonprofits in the delivery of social services and rightly asks for a reconsideration of welfare as charity. Her book is welcomed for its contribution to the historical study of welfare as well as to present political debates. Michael SiderRose Chicago,Illinois Thomas Parrish,with a foreword by Thomas D. Clark. Restoring Sbakertown :Tbe Struggle to Save tbe Historic Sbaker Village of Pleasant Hill. Lexington:The University Press of Kentucky,2005. 214 pp. ISBN: 1 081312364X (cloth), $ 32.00. leasantHill,arestoredShakercommu nity from the midnineteenth century outside of Lexington, is one of the most compelling historical landscapes in the Ohio Valley. Once the ic, cation of a thriving community of successful farmers, stockmen, broom makers,and weavers,Pleasant Hill became a largely forgotten place by the Depression era and its magnificent stone and brick b,Idings became dilapidated barns, dwellings, and storerooms on either side of a twolane federal highway. Its [ atetwentieth century restoration is clearly one of the region's major historic preservati () n successes. Thomas Parrish traces the story of the village' s renewal and renovation,beginning in the late 1950s and continuing to the end of the century. Parrish reviews the contributions of several key individuals, such as Earl D. Wallace,James C. Thomas,James L. Coger,Joseph C. Graves,Lucy Graves,and Betty W. Morris,all of whom played important roles in the preservation of other Bluegrass landmarks. Of this group, Wallace is the most important because he brought commitment, professionalism, and an ability to identify ind solve the shortterm and longterm financial difficulties of the restoration. Wallace was the moneyman and the lasting lesson of Parrish's account for historic preservationists will be how restorations are powered by massive amounts of dollars. No matter how noble the vision , no matter how distinguished the members, without large amounts of money, restorations of largescale historical landscapes are doomed to struggle and often fail. Wallace's funding quest was successful because he looked everywhere for OHIO VALLEY HISTORY 82 assistance:he demanded large donations from board members; developed partnerships with local and state officials; and used federal dollars as leverage for even more funding from private fc, undations. Parrish is so focused on the money chase that his narrative might best be titled " Funding Shakertown ." Preservationists and architectural historians who greatly admire the many distinguished buildings at Pleasant Hill will be disappointed. Parrish gives little attention to the actual architectural restoration process and various projects to decode the historical landscape through archeology and landscape analysis. Parrish does not include any of the measured drawings or other types of documentation used in the restoration. Nor do we learn much about the revival of Shaker crafts and decorative arts embodied by the programs and projects at Pleasant Hill. Scholars also would expect to find more discussion comparing Pleasant Hill with other southern preservation projects of the mid- to...