Shaker establishment, Kentucky. Photo: Larry McKee, L McKee Photography. PLEASE NOTE: This image comes in sizes 4x6, 6x9, 8x12, 12x18, 16x24, 24x36, 32x48, 40x60. The Shaker movement began in New York shortly before the American Revolution, and by the 1840s, nearly 3,500 Shakers lived in communities from Maine to Kentucky. In 1805, a group of Shakers came to central Kentucky and established a village they named Pleasant Hill.