ALFRED — In 1931, a decision was made in Mount Lebanon, N.Y. to close the Shaker community in Alfred.
It was a difficult day for the members of the United Society of Believers, who had maintained a community on Shaker Hill in Alfred for nearly 140 years. At one time, there were as many as 200 members. Established as a community in 1793, the population had dwindled to 21 by 1931.
“On Feb. 13 ”¦ Eldress Prudence and Brother Delmar made us a short call this noon,” wrote Sister Mildred in her journal, which is part of the Alfred Shaker Museum’s collection. “Their errand was to bring us the sad news that the ministry at Lebanon (New York) has decided that we are to move to Sabbathday Lake in the spring.”
Today, of the 24 Shaker communities that once flourished from Ohio, Georgia and Kentucky to New England, only Sabbathday Lake remains, with three members.
The Alfred Shaker properties were sold to another faith community, the Brothers of Christian Instruction. Still, several of the original Shaker properties remain, including the carriage house. Owned by the Brothers, the building was moved a short distance away from its original location in 2005 by the Friends of the Alfred Shaker Museum and has become a center for the display of Shaker artifacts. Workshops are held at the museum throughout the summer.
On the weekend, the Friends of Alfred Shaker Museum hosted an Apple Fest open house, drawing locals and visitors to the old carriage house to view authentic Shaker artifacts, watch demonstrations of Shaker-inspired handiwork, or purchase gift items ranging from herbs and spices produced by the Sabbathday Lake Shaker community, to locally handcrafted items.
While the Friends group has many members, the core group of those who live within the area numbers about 20, said President Betty Morrison. During the summer, the museum sponsors workshops. Recent past workshops have included the art of making Shaker oval boxes, penny rugs, basketmaking, Shaker knit hats, painted floor cloths and more. On Oct. 10, the museum will host a workshop on woodburning; preregistration is required.
Today, the Shakers are best known for their furniture ”“ clean-lined and unadorned but fashioned with exquisite craftsmanship. Theirs was a self-sufficient community and they crafted everything they used, from furniture and baskets to growing flax to weave into cloth.
Morrison said she was drawn to the Shakers because of their model of simplicity and self-sufficiency, along with their long association with Alfred, formally establishing here one year before the town was incorporated in 1794.
“The history shouldn’t be lost,” she said. “There are well over 100 buried there,” she said, pointing up the hill to the Shaker cemetery.
Formally, the Protestant sect was called the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing. It was established by Mother Ann Lee, an Englishwoman who had fled her country in the 1770s to avoid religious persecution. When she arrived at Watervliet, N.Y. she began a ministry that spread to New England. Shakers believe in hard work, communal living and celibacy and their numbers were increased through conversion. Shakers were known to take in orphans and children whose families could not afford to raise them. At age 21 the children could decided whether to stay or leave the order.
Jennifer George of Rochester, N.H, a basket weaver since 1986, was among those who demonstrated her work at the museum Saturday. While the Shakers mostly crafted utilitarian baskets for their own use, they also made smaller, fancy baskets for sale outside their tight-knit community, George said. Familiar with the workings of the former Shaker community at Canterbury, N.H., George said the Shakers there would take their beans and brown bread to Concord on Fridays to sell to the public.
Earl Morrison of Alfred, treasurer of the Friends group, displayed a photograph of Elder Henry Green, an Alfred Shaker who worked as a peddler from his horse and cart. And while the perception nowadays is of a community that rarely participated in the workings of the outside world, Morrison pointed out that Green had the first automobile in Alfred.
The front portion of a carriage house that now is a space for the display of artifacts was where the harnesses were stored, with the rear of the building as the space for carriages. The Shakers used a second floor, now open to the beams, to dry the lumber they used to craft furniture, Morrison said.
The building, moved to its present location in December 2005, was previously used by the Brothers as a gymnasium until they installed a Quonset hut for that purpose following World War II. The carriage house was then used to store equipment. The Brothers, Earl Morrison said, have supported the Friends group and contributed financially to installation of a new roof on the structure.
The Alfred Shaker Museum is open from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays throughout October.
— Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 or twells@journaltribune.com.
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