Pleasant Hill, also known as Shakertown, is in northeastern Mercer county near the Kentucky River. It was founded by members of the Society of Believers in Christs Second Appearing, known as the Shakers, in 1805, and the community eventually reached a size of 4,500 acres and a population of about 500. It was disbanded in 1910 and the last Shaker resident died in 1923. After many years of private ownership, much of the land and many of the buildings were restored as a museum known as Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill. A post office operated at Pleasant Hill from 1818 until 1904 under a variety of names.

The Centre Family Dwelling (1824) and West Family Dwelling (1821) at Pleasant Hill.

The Shakers built and maintained part of the Lexington-Harrodsburg road which ran through the village and which they operated as a toll road. They also operated a ferry on the Kentucky River about two miles north of Pleasant Hill.

The Shakers formed another community in Kentucky at South Union in Logan county.