![South Family Building, Harvard Shaker Village MA](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/South_Family_Building%2C_Harvard_Shaker_Village_MA.jpg)
![Group of Shakers, by Irving, James E](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Group_of_Shakers%2C_by_Irving%2C_James_E.%2C_1818-1901_-_single_image.jpg)
![Shakertown Trustees House 2005-05-27](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Shakertown_Trustees_House_2005-05-27.jpeg)
The
Shakers
The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, more commonly known as the Shakers, are a Millenarianism, millenarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian sect founded in England and then organized in the Unit ...
are a sect of Christianity which practices celibacy, communal living, confession of sin, egalitarianism, and pacifism. After starting in England, the Shakers left that country for the English colonies in North America in 1774. As they gained converts, the Shakers established numerous communities in the late-18th century through the entire 19th century. The first villages organized in
Upstate New York
Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...
and the
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
states, and, through Shaker missionary efforts, Shaker communities appeared in the
Midwestern
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...
states. Communities of Shakers were governed by area bishoprics and within the communities individuals were grouped into "family" units and worked together to manage daily activities. By 1836 eighteen major, long-term societies were founded, comprising some sixty families, along with a failed commune in
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
. Many smaller, short-lived communities were established over the course of the 19th century, including two failed ventures into the
Southeastern United States
The Southeastern United States, also referred to as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical region of the United States. It is located broadly on the eastern portion of the southern United States and the southern por ...
and an urban community in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. The Shakers peaked in population by the 1840s and early 1850s, with a membership between 4,000 and 9,000. Growth in membership began to stagnate by the mid 1850s. In the turmoil of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
and subsequent
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
, Shakerism went into severe decline. As the number of living Shakers diminished, Shaker communes were disbanded or otherwise ceased to exist. Some of their buildings and sites have become museums, and many are historic districts under the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
. The only active community is
Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village
Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village is a Shaker village near New Gloucester and Poland, Maine, in the United States. It is the last active Shaker community, with two members . With a new member, it had expanded to three members by 2021. The community ...
in Maine, which is composed of at least three active members.
The first Shaker societies
![The Great Stone Dwelling](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/The_Great_Stone_Dwelling.jpg)
The first Shaker community was established north of Albany, and was first called "Niskayuna", a rendering of the
Indian
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
name for the land. Later the town they were in was officially named
Watervliet. That part of the
town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
of Watervliet is now in the town of
Colonie (since 1895), and the name Watervliet is now limited to the
city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
of
Watervliet (1896). In addition,
Niskayuna
Niskayuna is a town in Schenectady County, New York, United States. The population was 23,278 at the 2020 census. The town is located in the southeast part of the county, east of the city of Schenectady, and is the easternmost town in the county. ...
is now the name of a town to the northwest. This has led to some confusion, because many historical accounts refer to them as the Niskayuna Shakers, while others refer to them as Watervliet Shakers. The
Watervliet Shaker Historic District
Watervliet Shaker Historic District, in Colonie, New York, is the site of the first Shaker community. It was established in 1776. The primary Shaker community, the Mount Lebanon Shaker Society, was started a bit later. Watervliet's historic 18 ...
is where Mother Ann Lee was buried.
By 1780, the missionary work of the Shakers had attracted many new converts. An extensive series of trips throughout New England from 1781 through 1783 brought in followers across the entire region. Converts began appearing in
New Lebanon and
Canaan, New York
Canaan is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Columbia County, New York, Columbia County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 1,570 at the 2020 census, down from 1,710 at the 2010 census. The town is in ...
;
Hancock Hancock may refer to:
Places in the United States
* Hancock, Iowa
* Hancock, Maine
* Hancock, Maryland
* Hancock, Massachusetts
* Hancock, Michigan
* Hancock, Minnesota
* Hancock, Missouri
* Hancock, New Hampshire
** Hancock (CDP), New Hampshir ...
,
Pittsfield
Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfieldâ ...
,
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
,
Ashfield,
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, and
Shirley, Massachusetts
Shirley is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately thirty miles west-northwest of Boston. The population was 7,431 at the 2020 census. The town has a well-preserved historic New England town center.
It is ho ...
; and the states of
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
,
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
, and
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
(then part of Massachusetts), among other locations.
In 1784, Ann Lee and her brother both died, leaving James Whittaker to lead the faith. By 1787, he too had died, and Joseph Meacham assumed the role as leader. Meacham appointed Lucy Wright of Pittsfield to co-lead, and under their auspices they organized a central village in
New Lebanon, as well as organizing the original settlement of Watervliet. By 1790, the
Hancock Village was also organized. After the formation of the New Lebanon, Watervliet, and Hancock communities, within three years nine more communities would organize in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Maine.
Settlement growth
The Shakers built more than 20 settlements that attracted at least 20,000 converts over the next century. Strict believers in celibacy, Shakers acquired their members through conversion,
indenturing children, and adoption of orphans. Some children, such as
Isaac N. Youngs, came to the Shakers when their parents joined, then grew up to become faithful members as adults.
As their communities grew, women and men shared leadership of the Shaker communities. Women preached and received revelations as the Spirit fell upon them. Thriving on the religious enthusiasm of the
first and second Great Awakenings, the Shakers declared their messianic, communitarian message with significant response. One early convert observed: "The wisdom of their instructions, the purity of their doctrine, their Christ-like deportment, and the simplicity of their manners, all appeared truly apostolical." The Shakers represent a small but important Utopian response to the gospel. Preaching in their communities knew no boundaries of gender, social class, or education.
Village organization
Bishoprics
Shaker communities were grouped into bishoprics, which were governing units. The leadership team, called a ministry, resided in the bishopric's primary community. This ministry consisted of two men known as Elders and two women known as Eldresses. The New Lebanon Bishopric, the primary bishopric unit, was located in New York and included the Mount Lebanon and Watervliet Shaker Villages, as well as, after 1859,
Groveland Shaker Village
Groveland Shaker Village was a settlement of Shakers in Groveland, New York under the bishopric of Groveland.Stephen J. Paterwic. Historical Dictionary of the Shakers'. Scarecrow Press; 11 August 2008. . p. 18.
In 1826, a Shaker group was organiz ...
. In addition to its own member communities, the ministry of New Lebanon Bishopric oversaw all other Shaker bishoprics and communes. After New Lebanon closed in 1947, this central Ministry relocated to Hancock Shaker Village, and after the closure of that community in 1960, to
Canterbury Shaker Village
Canterbury Shaker Village is a historic site and museum in Canterbury, New Hampshire, United States. It was one of a number of Shaker communities founded in the 19th century.
It is one of the most intact and authentic surviving Shaker communi ...
. When Canterbury closed in 1992, Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village remained as the last extant Shaker commune.
Family groups
A Shaker village was divided into groups or "families." The leading group in each village was the Church Family, and it was surrounded by satellite families that were often named for points on the
compass rose
A compass rose, sometimes called a wind rose, rose of the winds or compass star, is a figure on a compass, map, nautical chart, or monument used to display the orientation of the cardinal directions (north, east, south, and west) and their int ...
. Managing each family was a leadership team consisting of two Elders and two Eldresses. Shakers lived together as brothers and sisters. Each house was divided so that men and women did most things separately. They used different staircases and doors. They sat on opposite sides of the room in worship, at meals, and in "union meetings" held to provide supervised socialization between the sexes. However, the daily business of a Shaker village required the brethren and sisters to interact, as did the dancing and other vigorous activity of their worship services. Though there was a division of labor between men and women, they also cooperated in carrying out many tasks, such as harvesting apples, food production, laundry, and gathering firewood. Every family was designed to be self-supporting with its own farm and businesses, but in times of hardship, other parts of the village, or even other Shaker villages, pitched in to help the afflicted.
Communities
Out-families, short-lived settlements, and missions
Some organized In addition to the organized communities, other small and very short-lived communities emerged during the history of the Shakers, as well as various missions. These included:
* Numerous communities throughout New England:
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...
,
Ashfield,
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
,
Shelburne Falls
Shelburne Falls is a historic village in the towns of Shelburne and Buckland in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The village is a census-designated place (CDP) with a population of 1,731 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Sp ...
,
Turners Falls
Turners Falls is an unincorporated village and census-designated place in the town of Montague in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 4,512 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropol ...
,
Norton Norton may refer to:
Places
Norton, meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Norton include: Canada
* Rural Municipality of Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan
*Norton Parish, New Brunswick
**Norton, New Brunswick, a ...
,
Petersham,
Grafton,
Upton, and
Rehoboth in Massachusetts;
Windham,
Preston,
Stonington, and
Saybrook, Connecticut;
Guilford and
Pittsford, Vermont; and
Tuftonboro, New Hampshire. These emerged during the 1780s but were eventually absorbed into the larger Shaker communities.
* Two families in
Canaan, New York
Canaan is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Columbia County, New York, Columbia County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 1,570 at the 2020 census, down from 1,710 at the 2010 census. The town is in ...
. These began in 1813, and were part of the larger New Lebanon Village.
* Poland Hill at
Poland, Maine
Poland is a town in Androscoggin County, Maine, United States. The population was 5,906 at the 2020 census. Set among rolling hills and numerous lakes, the town is home to Range Ponds State Park, which includes hiking trails and a pristine fresh ...
. This community, founded by the former residents of Gorham when that village closed, served as the North Family and Gathering Order of the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village.
*
Drake's Creek, or the Mill Family, in
Warren County, Kentucky
Warren County is a county located in the south central portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 134,554, making it the fifth-most populous county in Kentucky. The county seat is Bowling Green. Warren Coun ...
, was a venture by the
South Union, Kentucky, Shakers, to establish a water-powered mill some 16 miles removed from the South Union community itself. Begun in 1817, the venture proved unsuccessful and was shut down in 1829.
* A community in
Darby Plains in
Union County, Ohio
Union County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 62,784. Its county seat is Marysville. Its name is reflective of its origins, it being the union of portions of Franklin, Delaware, Madis ...
, which existed from 1822-1823. Quickly abandoned, the Shakers there relocated to the Whitewater Settlement.
* Missions to
Straight Creek and Eagle Creek in Ohio.
* A short-lived settlement at
Red Banks, Kentucky
Henderson is a home rule-class city along the Ohio River and is the county seat of Henderson County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 28,757 at the 2010 U.S. census. It is part of the Evansville Metropolitan Area, locally known as the ...
.
* Missions to
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
and
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
, California, in the 1880s and 1890s. Arthur W. Dowe, from Canterbury Shaker Village, operated a mission in San Francisco for several years in the early- and mid-1890s at 948 Mission Street. A small urban community of Shakers persisted in the city until the
1906 earthquake and ensuing fire. Cornelia R. Powers, of Watervliet Shaker Village, was in San Diego by the late 1880s and missionized there for several years.
Shaker village tourism
In the 19th century, hundreds of tourists visited Shaker villages, and many of them later wrote about their experiences there. Outsiders were invariably impressed by Shaker cleanliness, prosperity, and agriculture. Shaker food was delicious, and they were hospitable to outsiders. Shakers had a reputation for honesty and their products were the best of their kind.
[; ]
Museums
*
Alfred Shaker Museum
Alfred Shaker Historic District is a historic district in Alfred, Maine, with properties on both sides of Shaker Hill Road. The area had its first Shaker "believers" in 1783 following visiting with Mother Ann Lee and became an official communi ...
, Alfred, Maine
*
Canterbury Shaker Village
Canterbury Shaker Village is a historic site and museum in Canterbury, New Hampshire, United States. It was one of a number of Shaker communities founded in the 19th century.
It is one of the most intact and authentic surviving Shaker communi ...
, Canterbury, New Hampshire
*
Enfield Shaker Museum
The Enfield Shaker Museum is an outdoor history museum and historic district in Enfield, New Hampshire in the United States. It is dedicated to preserving and sharing the history of the Shakers, a Protestant religious denomination, who lived o ...
, Enfield, New Hampshire
*
Fruitlands Museum, Harvard, Massachusetts
*
Hancock Shaker Village
Hancock Shaker Village is a former Shaker commune in Hancock and Pittsfield, Massachusetts. It emerged in the towns of Hancock, Pittsfield, and Richmond in the 1780s, organized in 1790, and was active until 1960. It was the third of nineteen maj ...
, Hancock, Massachusetts
*
Pleasant Hill, Kentucky
Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, USA, is the site of a Shaker religious community that was active from 1805 to 1910. Following a preservationist effort that began in 1961, the site, now a National Historic Landmark, has become a popular tourist destinat ...
, Harrodsburg, Kentucky
*
Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village
Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village is a Shaker village near New Gloucester and Poland, Maine, in the United States. It is the last active Shaker community, with two members . With a new member, it had expanded to three members by 2021. The community ...
, New Gloucester, Maine
*
Shaker Historical Museum, Shaker Heights, Ohio
*
Shaker Historical Society, Colonie, New York
*
Shaker Museum Mount Lebanon, New Lebanon, New York
*
Shaker Museum at South Union, Auburn, Kentucky
Notes
Citations
References
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Further reading
* Bishop, Rufus. ''Elder Rufus Bishop’s Journals''. 2 vols. Peter H. Van Demark, ed. Clinton, N.Y.: Richard W. Couper Press, 2018.
* Brewer, Priscilla. ''Shaker Communities, Shaker Lives''. Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 1986.
* Brewer, Priscilla. "The Shakers of Mother Ann Lee," in ''America's Communal Utopias'' ed. by Donald E. Pitzer. (1997) pp. 37–56.
* Burns, Deborah E. ''Shaker Cities of Peace, Love, and Union: A History of the Hancock Bishopric.'' U. Press of New England, 1993. 246 pp.
* Eastman, Harland H.
Alfred, Maine : The Shakers And The Village (1986).
* Foster, Lawrence
''Women, Family, and Utopia: Communal Experiments of the Shakers, the Oneida Community, and the Mormons''(1991).
* Gutek, Gerald and Gutek, Patricia. ''Visiting Utopian Communities: A Guide to the Shakers, Moravians, and Others.'' U. of South Carolina Press, 1998. 230 pp.
* Kelly, Andrew. ''Kentucky by Design: The Decorative Arts and American Culture, with an Emphasis on the Shaker Communities at Pleasant Hill and South Union.'' University Press of Kentucky, 2015.
* Murray, John E. "A Demographic Analysis of Shaker Mortality Trends." ''Communal Societies''. Volume 13 (1993): 22–44.
* Murray John E. "Determinants of Membership Levels and Duration in a Shaker Commune, 1780–1880". ''Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion'' 34 (1995): 35–48
In JSTOR* Murray, John E. "The white plague in utopia: tuberculosis in nineteenth-century Shaker communes." ''Bulletin of the History of Medicine'': 1994, volume 68: 278–306; erratum, 510.
* Paterwic, Stephen. "From Individual to Community: Becoming a Shaker at New Lebanon, 1780–1947." ''Communal Societies'', Volume 11 (1991): 18–33.
* Paterwic, Stephen J. "Mysteries of the Tyringham Shakers Unmasked: A New Examination of People, Facts, and Figures." ''Historical Journal of Massachusetts''. (Winter 2003).
*
Portman, Rob and Cheryl Bauer. ''Wisdom's Paradise: The Forgotten Shakers of Union Village''.
Wilmington, Ohio
Wilmington is a city in and the county seat of Clinton County, Ohio, United States. The population was 12,660 at the 2020 census. At city entrances from state routes, county roads, and U.S. highways, the city slogan of "We Honor Our Champions" is ...
: Orange Frazer Press, 2004. {{ISBN, 1-882203-40-2. (About the
Warren County, Ohio
Warren County is a County (United States), county located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 242,337. Its county seat is Lebanon, Ohio, Lebanon. The county is ...
settlement.)
* Pushkar-Pasewicz, Margaret. "Kitchen Sisters and Disagreeable Boys: Debates over Meatless Diets in Nineteenth-Century Shaker Communities." in ''Eating in Eden: Food and American Utopias''. Etta M. Madden and Martha L. Finch, eds. University of Nebraska Press, 2006. pp. 109–24.
* Rotundo, Barbara. "Crossing the Dark River: Shaker Funerals and Cemeteries." ''Communal Societies''. Volume 7 (1987): 36–46.
* Sasson, Diane. "Individual Experience, Community Control, and Gender: The Harvard Shaker Community During the Era of Manifestations," Communal Societies 13 (1993): 45–70.
* ''Shaker Autobiographies, Biographies and Testimonies, 1806-1907''. 3 vols. Glendyne Wergland and Christian Goodwillie, eds. London, England: Pickering & Chatto, 2014.
* Sprigg, June. ''Simple Gifts: Lessons in Living from a Shaker Village''. New York: Random House, 1998.
* Stiles, Lauren A. "'Rather Than Ever Milk Again': Shaker Sisters' Refusal to Milk at Mount Lebanon and Watervliet—1873–1877." ''American Communal Societies Quarterly''. Volume 3.1 (2009):13–25.
* Thurman, Suzanne R. ''"O Sisters Ain't You Happy?": Gender, Family, and Community among the Harvard and Shirley Shakers, 1781–1918.'' Syracuse University Press, 2002. pp. 262.
* Thurman, Suzanne. "'No idle hands are seen': The Social Construction of Work in Shaker Society." ''Communal Societies''. Volume 18 (1998): 36–52.
* Wergland, Glendyne R. ''Sisters in the Faith: Shaker Women and Equality of the Sexes''. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2011.
* Wertkin, Gerard C. ''The Four Seasons of Shaker Life'': An Intimate Portrait of the Community at Sabbathday Lake. Photographs by Ann Chwasky. Simon & Schuster, 1986. pp. 189.
* Youngs, Isaac Newton. ''Isaac Newton Youngs’s Concise View of the Millennial Church''. Glendyne Wergland and Christian Goodwillie, eds. Clinton, N.Y.: Richard W. Couper Press, 2017.
External links
Map of Historic Shaker sitesShakerpedia.com;Settlements
Alfred Shaker Village, Alfred, MaineCanterbury Shaker Village, Canterbury, New HampshireEnfield Shaker Village, Enfield, New HampshireEnfield Shaker Singers, Enfield, New HampshireHancock Shaker Village, Hancock, MassachusettsShaker Museum , Mount Lebanon, New Lebanon, New YorkPleasant Hill Shaker Village, Pleasant Hill, KentuckySabbath Day Lake Shakers, MaineInterview of the Sabbath Day Lake ShakersSabbath Day Lake Shaker Library and MuseumSouth Union Shaker Village, South Union, KentuckyWhitewater Shaker Village, Whitewater, Ohio
Shakers