Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky’s largest national historic landmark, has become a prominent opponent in the fight against a proposed Mercer County data center.
The nonprofit that runs the site near Harrodsburg has a mission to preserve the physical remnants of the early progressive religious sect. Now, its CEO, Billy Rankin, is using that philosophy — one of community values and pastoral living — to oppose the tech development just a mile from the once-home to hundreds of Shakers.
In the mid-19th century, the Shakers numbered in the thousands. They first came from England, settling along in Northeast before missionaries migrated west to Ohio and Kentucky. Today, across the globe, just two Shakers remain.
What’s known as Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill was established around 1805, peaking with roughly 500 residents who lived a communal, celibate lifestyle.
“Being a Shaker is not about going to church on Sunday and living your own life the rest of the day,” Becky Soules, the community’s museum director, said recently. “You can really only be a Shaker by living in community, and that might, you know, it might be a process.”
The group was known for its new age values, espousing gender equality, pacifism and even social welfare.
“One Shaker talks about how, when we're planting corn, we plant one for ourselves, we plant one for the crows, and one for our neighbors because crows and thieves have to eat too,” Soules said. “So they would often provide sustenance and support to people in their larger community who were in need.”
Kentucky’s last Shaker died in 1923, and the nonprofit preserves 34 buildings from the 19th century. The site is a significant tourism attraction, welcoming around 100,000 visitors each year to its farm, educational programming, restaurant, accommodations and hiking trails.
“One of the major reasons that people visit Shaker Village is the bucolic atmosphere,” Rankin told WEKU during a site visit in October. “When you come driving in, people say all the time, they're between those dry stack stone fences, they're approaching our entrance, and their blood pressure is just dropping.”
Rankin said that atmosphere is now threatened. Just a mile from Shaker Village is the proposed site for “Project Bluegrass,” which would cover 950 acres for in data center.
Supporters say the project would give Mercer County needed tax revenue and boost the local economy. The developer, Panattoni, said it would “compliment” the nearby areas instead of outright changing them.
The real estate developer based out of Irvine, California, has proposed other data center projects in Michigan and Wisconsin.
Like other data center proposals across Kentucky, Project Bluegrass has been controversial. Joe Monroe, the mayor of the nearby city of Burgin, said he’s heard almost nothing but negative feedback from his constituents.
“There is more ‘No Data’ signs in the city of Burgin than you can shake a stick at right now, and it seems like there's more and more every day,” Monroe said.
Rankin, and by extension Shaker Village, has become one of the proposal’s most notable opponents. He contends the noise and construction to build out the hyperscale data center would impede those looking for a peaceful retreat.
He’s also concerned about what such developments mean for historic sites in general.
“Places like Shaker Village, Bernheim Forest and others are hopefully not going to be just islands of respite,” he said. “But we have to protect the property as if it's going to be more and more rare in the future. I certainly know it will be more and more important.”
Rankin also says there are more existential reasons for his opposition to data centers. He argues the project runs contrary to the Shakers’ communal values.
“So many people are being divided and isolated,” Rankin said. “Their relationships are on social media or AI, and having a place where you can connect with nature, and just as importantly, connect with other people, make eye contact and shake hands, and greet people from around the world, and break bread together, sit down in a restaurant or outside around a campfire together, these are the kinds of relationships that are so important for humanity.”
Historically, the Shakers lived simply, but didn’t outright reject technology. Similarly, Rankin believes a balance can be struck with how modern society interfaces with technology and nature.
“If we're Luddites, then we're not taking advantage of what technology can offer to support us,” Rankin said, “and if we are just completely pro-technology, then we lose sight of what the whole purpose of it all is.”
Statewide, residents have opposed data center proposals over their massive amounts of energy use, pollution and ties to the artificial intelligence industry.
In August, the Mercer County Fiscal Court passed a one-year moratorium to prevent data centers from being built on the county’s unincorporated lands. But Burgin’s city government has been debating whether to annex land for the development.
Burgin has since rejoined the countywide planning commission to give the city more control over the proposed development. Monroe, the mayor, cast the tiebreaking vote.
“It's okay if it's put in the right place,” he said. “I don't feel that this particular place that they're wanting to put it is the right place to be putting a hyper data center in.”
Mercer County also voted down a zoning ordinance that would have paved the way for data centers in late September.
In the meantime, Rankin is calling for the state legislature to enact protections to keep data centers away from Kentucky’s landmarks.
“We wouldn't want a data center next to Keeneland,” Rankin said. “We wouldn't want a data center next to Churchill Downs. We wouldn't want a data center next to Mammoth Cave or Shaker Village or in the middle of Daniel Boone National Forest.”
