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Virtual Shaker Exhibits You Can Connect To Now

WWW.SHAKERMUSEUM.US/COLLECTION/ – The Shaker nity. The campers, known as “villagers,” lived in and helped to restore
Museum (profiled in our “Great Collections” column on page XX) may Shaker buildings, created Shaker-style crafts, operated a camp store, and
have much of its collection in storage, but it offers 16 pages of virtual conducted tours for visitors. In addition, villagers had the opportunity to
exhibitions from the last few years for everyone to explore by clicking on play sports, go on field trips, participate in a variety of creative arts, prac-
the link above. Each one has text from the curators outlining the purpose tice trades such as woodworking and weaving, and more. They also
of the exhibit and the Shaker stories behind them. learned Shaker songs and dances, which they performed at the Shaker
Here are just a few of the Exhibits available to dive into from the con- Museum’s annual Antiques Festival for a number of years.
venience of your own home: Durable Beauty: Baskets from Shaker Museum – Shaker craftsmen were
Fringe Selects: An exhibition of Shaker objects curated by Katie Stout – highly skilled and their products were an expression of their worldview.
Through a selection of Shaker material chosen by artist Katie Stout from Labor was a form of worship and it was the duty of each believer to live
the Museum’s permanent collection, Fringe Selects explores the breadth purely and to strive for perfection in everything they did.
of Shaker objects by taking a closer look at the objects on the “fringe”— Work: Shaker Tools – The Shaker Museum was born out of a passion
colorful, ornamental, and less well-known than the minimalist, iconic for tool collecting. The Museum’s founder, John S. Williams, Sr., began
Shaker pieces. Also on view are two new chairs created by Stout as a collecting tools related to farming and trades that supported farming.
response to her exploration of Shaker material culture. When he became aware of the Shakers still living at Mount Lebanon, he
Shaker Village Work Camp – The Shaker Village Work Group was a focused his collecting on Shaker tools and other objects related to their
co-ed summer camp for urban teenagers that operated from 1947 until lives. The collection quickly grew to several thousand tools, ranging from
1973 on a site formerly owned by the Mount Lebanon Shaker commu- the smallest drill bits to a blacksmith’s trip-hammer weighing several tons.

Preservation
The stories and products created by
the Enfield Shakers have been saved as
best they could by organizations includ-
ing the Enfield Historical Society and its
museum at the Old Town Hall, the
Martha Parsons House museum, online
at www.Connecticuthistory.org , the
Shaker Museum in Mt. Lebanon,
Hancock Shaker Village, and in many
private collections.
While many other villages have been
turned into living museums, the only
Marked simply as the South Family At left, the one time Shop on the South Family grounds.
“Dwelling House” on the map, this building has and The second floor is collapsing into the first and the exterior, way to experience the Enfield village is to
continues to be turned into apartments, and is owned while original, is coming apart. The Wash House, right, is drive through the area of Shaker Road.
by a descendant of the family. also deserted and crumbling apart. You may see a glimpse or two of Shaker
buildings and barns as you drive past the
it where visitors would come and buy goods made by Shaker craftsmen prisons, look at the empty fields, and imagine a thriving agricultural
and women. Across the street, a house now has trees growing through and religious utopia from centuries past.
it, and a large dairy barn has been deserted but still stands.

A Note From the Author: As I was wandering through the grounds and woods on the South Family
My father was co-founder of Yankee Casting Company located on Shaker property to take a few photos and see what was left, I found many different
Road in Enfield, Connecticut. I heard many tales about the Shakers from him berries growing near the house that now has vultures for tenants, lilies that
and his mother, who also lived in Enfield for some time. When the Osborn were still growing in the middle of the trees and weeds in the forest in front
Prison was still located on the Church Family property, I got to see the of the empty cow barn, and paths that may have outlined gardens. With a bit
prisoners working the fields. Many more of the Shaker buildings—some of imagination, I can envision what must have existed there as the sounds of
being used to house the prisoners—were still standing back then, and I the surrounding businesses fade.
remember when they were torn down to build the current prison buildings To gain in-depth information on this community, a new book written
that are there. by an expert on the Enfield community has just been released and is
I was fortunate to be able to tour the property—now home to the five available wherever you choose to purchase your books. The Shakers of
prison facilities—to see the remaining structures and take photos of them Enfield, Connecticut 1780-1968 by Stephen J. Paterwic is considered by
thanks to my “tour guide” Connecticut Department of Correction Public many to be the definitive history of the community. “The Shaker
Information Officer Andrius Banevicius. I will admit it is a shame that the community at Enfield, Connecticut, lasted from 1792 to 1914. Shaker
remains of the community are in such a state of disrepair. At this time, it founder Mother Ann Lee gathered converts there, and her successor Father
seems as if no one is in charge of maintaining or preserving what is left, and Joseph Whittaker ministered to them before he died there in 1787. This is
the few buildings that remain will continue to deteriorate. But a grove of the first book devoted to telling the 130-year story of this relatively unknown
cedar trees planted by the Shakers still stands by the pond they built and used celibate Christian community. Additionally, eighteen appendices provide
to irrigate the fields through a series of canals; the old dirt Saw Mill Road rich primary source information for further research.”
that had led from Taylor Road to the animal barns and what is now Crescent Paterwic is also the author of Historical Dictionary of the Shakers, The
Lake is still in use, but because no one can go on the property to curate what A to Z of the Shakers, Tyringham Shakers, and The Journals of New Lebanon
is left hidden and unknown, or begin any preservation efforts, the future of Shaker Elder Rufus Bishop, 1815-1852.
what remains continues to be unsecure. A Shaker scholar, to be sure.

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