Canterbury Shaker Village

On our way to Canterbury on Friday (Oct 4th) we stopped in Lanconia to visit the Belknap Mill. Housed in an 1823 brick building, there is a hydroelectric power plant, a renovated wheel house, original circular knitting machines for socks, and exhibits and displays explaining the process. It was interesting to me and would be a good field trip for a class learning about the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. If we had been there on Thursday, we could have seen live demonstrations.

We spent about three and a half to four hours at Canterbury Shaker Village founded in 1792, one of 19 Shaker Communities in which the people devoted their "Hands to Work and Hearts to God" for 200 years.

 

The Shakers were a very productive, enterprising group of celibate Christ-followers living communally and dedicating everything they did to the worship of God. Men and women were separate, but equal, with well-defined positions of leadership within the spiritual community and assigned jobs which they rotated regularly. This religious sect was an offshoot of the Quakers, but was founded on the teachings of Ann Lee. It was quite amazing to see how men and women lived and worked together so closely in a community, yet remained so separate. They had separate doors for entering and leaving buildings and even separate staircases within a building. Although they ate and worshipped together, they did so on opposite sides of the room. The group grew in numbers by making converts from the outside world and taking in orphans. They were quite successful and prosperous for many years until their numbers declined. There are now only three, very old, known Shakers still alive.

Separate doors for women and men

 

We just missed the first guided tour, so we did the self-guided portion first, wandering through the open buildings and reading the printed material. While interesting, it really didn't come alive to me until the guided tour. We had an amazing storyteller guide, Claudia, who was passionate about her subject and truly brought the village to life for us. She was fascinating and very informative. The "45 minute" tour stretched to an hour and a half and no one got bored. I was disappointed when she literally ran out of time and couldn't spend a minute more with us.

The only indoor space we were allowed to take pictures. Contains reproductions for children to touch and experience.

This song "Simple Gifts" was written by Shaker Elder Joseph:

"'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free

'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gain'd,

To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come 'round right."

When we left Canterbury, we drove to Concord and found the Walmart. We had a nice dinner at Olive Garden using a gift card Mark was given for his birthday:)

 

Posted with Blogsy