The Shakers
Some of you may be familiar with the Shakers, a religious group of the 19th and very early 20th century in the US. They built probably the most successful communal colonies in the history of our country. They're remembered for their ecstatic worship, their simple, beautiful architecture, and their hard work. In dress, they looked somewhat like the Old Order Mennonite or Amish communities with which we are more familiar today, but the similarities actually end there, as their beliefs were quite different. We spent the day on the grounds of the Shaker Community at Canterbury, New Hampshire. At this time, only two Shaker sisters are still alive and they live in Maine at the Sabbathday Lake site.
This is the dwelling house, where the colonists lived a celibate and gender-separated life. It was a large and attractive building. The yellow house below, called the Ministry House, was home to the two elders and two eldresses who supervised the community.
Inside, the buildings were models of simplicity and order.
The Shakers did charitable work in their own communities, especially in the area of care for orphans or other abandoned or impoverished children. When the children reached adulthood, about 20% remained to practice the Shaker lifestyle, but the majority did not. When the 20th century's new adoption laws prohibited the type of adoption that the Shakers practiced, the colonies realized their time was coming to an end, particularly because of their celibate tradition. We watched an interesting movie in which the last living Shaker-raised woman talked about the loving and free life she enjoyed growing up. Despite being an extremely happy child, she did not remain in the colony. By that time, most of the remaining Shakers were elderly and they urged her not to stay, saying that she would wind up nursing them in their twilight years instead of finding a life for herself. She reluctantly agreed, but was always grateful for their love and care. She returned often to visit them.
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