Tuesday, June 25 – Day 7
North of Concord, NH is the Canterbury Shaker Village. The Shakers were a Christian religious sect that existed in the 1800’s in central states. They were originally a Quaker group, but were prone to speaking loudly or dancing about during religious services. Hence the name Shakers. Their communities were mostly self sufficient, creating many herbal remedies and medicines that they would sell to the outside world.
The picture above is their meeting house. They would line up in this field the men on the north or east and the women on the south or west. They would use the separate entrances and would sit on opposite sides of the building. Their ceremonial dances took on such defined steps that pegs and markers were put onto the floor where certain actions would be done.
The The buildings were basically unadorned but sturdily built and functional. All buildings, drawers, doors and clothes were labeled and a master list was kept so that at any time you would know where something is located. The Shakers were the first to develop a circular saw and also developed the Shaker-style cabinetry that we know today.
This row of trees goes from the main road up to the meeting house on both sides forming almost a full canopy. A new tree was planted each time a new child came to the village. Indeed all the children in the colony came from outside whether as an orphan or due to financial hardship of the parents. Some were from single-parent families. The Shakers themselves were celibate – they did not marry and recognized the opposite sex as brother or sister. I suppose this didn’t go over big with a lot of people and by the mid-1900’s the Shakers were headed for extinction.
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