The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, more commonly known as the Shakers, are a millenarian restorationist Christian sect founded c. 1747 in England and then organized in the United States in the 1780s. They were initially known as "Shaking Quakers" because of their ecstatic behavior during worship services. Espousing egalitarian ideals, women took on spiritual leadership roles alongside men, including founding leaders such as Jane Wardley, Ann Lee, and Lucy Wright. The Shakers emigrated from England and settled in Revolutionary colonial America, with an initial settlement at Watervliet, New York, in 1774. They practice a celibate and communal utopian lifestyle, pacifism, uniform charismatic worship, and their model of equality of the sexes, which they institutionalized in their society in the 1780s. They are also known for their simple living, architecture, technological innovation, music, and furniture.
Livingston County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 61,834. Its county seat is Geneseo. The county is named after Robert R. Livingston, who helped draft the Declaration of Independence and negotiated the Louisiana Purchase.
Letchworth State Park is a 14,427-acre (5,838 ha) New York State Park located in Livingston County and Wyoming County in the western part of the State of New York. The park is roughly 17 miles (27 km) long, following the course of the Genesee River as it flows north through a deep gorge and over several large waterfalls. It is located 35 miles (56 km) southwest of Rochester and 60 miles (97 km) southeast of Buffalo, and spans portions of the Livingston County towns of Leicester, Mount Morris and Portage, as well as the Wyoming County towns of Castile and Genesee Falls.
Groveland is a town in Livingston County, New York, United States. The population was 3,249 at the 2010 census. The town is centrally located in the county, south of Geneseo.
Huron is a town in Wayne County, New York, United States. The population was 2,118 at the 2010 census. The town is named after the Huron Indians.
Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, USA, is the site of a Shaker religious community that was active from 1805 to 1910. Following a preservationist effort that began in 1961, the site, now a National Historic Landmark, has become a popular tourist destination. Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, or Shakertown, as it is known by residents of the area, is located 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Lexington, in Kentucky's Bluegrass region. It is a National Historic Landmark District.
Oris Paxton Van Sweringen and Mantis James Van Sweringen were American brothers who became railroad barons in order to develop Shaker Heights, Ohio. They are better known as O. P. Van Sweringen and M. J. Van Sweringen, or by their collective nickname, the Vans. The brothers came from a farming area near Wooster, Ohio. Their father was for a time an engineer in the oil fields of Pennsylvania, fought in the Civil War and was wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg. The family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, in about 1890.
New York State Route 36 (NY 36) is a north–south state highway in the western part of New York in the United States. The highway extends for 95 miles (153 km) from the Pennsylvania state line at Troupsburg, Steuben County northward to Ogden, Monroe County, where it ends at an intersection with NY 31. Along the way, NY 36 passes through the villages of Canisteo, Dansville, Mount Morris, Caledonia, and Churchville and the city of Hornell. The section of the route between Dansville and Mount Morris closely parallels Interstate 390 (I-390); however, from Dansville south and Mount Morris north, NY 36 serves as a regionally important highway, connecting to I-86, U.S. Route 20A (US 20A), US 20, and I-490 as it heads north. At its south end, NY 36 connects to Pennsylvania Route 249 (PA 249).
Alton is a hamlet within the Town of Sodus, Wayne County, New York, United States. It is located six miles (10 km) southeast of the Village of Sodus and five miles (8 km) south of the Village of Sodus Point, at an elevation of 377 feet. The primary intersection in the hamlet is at N.Y. Route 14 and Ridge Road. N.Y. Route 104 passes just south of Alton.
Groveland Correctional Facility is a medium security prison located in the Town of Groveland in Livingston County, New York, in the United States. The facility is located next to the community of Sonyea in Groveland on the site of a former Shaker community. The town is south of Rochester, Monroe County, New York, near Interstate 390.
William Pryor Letchworth was an American businessman notable for his charitable work, including his donation of his 1,000-acre estate to the State of New York which became known as Letchworth State Park.
Hancock Shaker Village is a former Shaker commune in Hancock and Pittsfield, Massachusetts. It emerged in the towns of Hancock, Pittsfield, and Richmond in the 1780s, organized in 1790, and was active until 1960. It was the third of nineteen major Shaker villages established between 1774 and 1836 in New York, New England, Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana. From 1790 until 1893, Hancock was the seat of the Hancock Bishopric, which oversaw two additional Shaker communes in Tyringham, Massachusetts, and Enfield, Connecticut.
The North Princeton Developmental Center, formerly known as the New Jersey State Village for Epileptics, was a medical facility within Montgomery Township, Somerset County, New Jersey. The facility was home to a variety of mental health institutions throughout the years. In 2011, the former self-sustaining mental health village was slated for demolition to make space for a proposed county park. Demolition was completed in 2012 with plans to begin construction of the conceptual park in 2013. The facility garnered much notoriety over the past decades due to its "ghost town" appearance and mention in the popular book and periodical, "Weird N.J." Until its demolition, the former hospital was a popular place for "urban explorers" to explore, despite the buildings being unsafe (partially due to asbestos and lead paint contamination. Urban explorers were often met with resistance from law enforcement, as the site was prone to criminal activity, ranging from graffiti to arson. Prior to the demolition of the site, state and local governments have both made reasonable attempts to keep trespassers out, for example by sealing the entrances and windows of the property, though these methods proved to be relatively ineffective.
Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2011 census was 33,249.
Letchworth Village was a residential institution located in Rockland County, New York, in the hamlet of Thiells built for the physically and mentally disabled of all ages, from the newborn to the elderly. Opened in 1911, Letchworth Village at its peak consisted of over 130 buildings spread out over many acres of land. It was named for William Pryor Letchworth, who espoused reform in the treatment and care of the insane, epileptics, and poor children.
The Enfield Shakers Historic District encompasses some of the surviving remnants of a former Shaker community in Enfield, Connecticut. Founded in the 1780s, the Enfield Shaker community remained active until 1917. The surviving buildings of their once large community complexes are located in and around Taylor Road in northeastern Enfield, and were listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The listing included 15 contributing buildings and one contributing site.
The chronology of Shakers is a list of important events pertaining to the history of the Shakers, a denomination of Christianity. Millenarians who believe that their founder, Ann Lee, experienced the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the Shakers practice celibacy, confession of sin, communalism, ecstatic worship, pacifism, and egalitarianism. This spans the emergence of denomination in the mid-18th century, the emigration of the Shakers to New York on the eve of the American Revolution, subsequent missionary work and the establishment of nineteen major planned communities, and the continued persistence of the faith through decline into the 21st century.
The Shakers are a sect of Christianity which practices celibacy, communal living, confession of sin, egalitarianism, and pacifism. After starting in England, it is thought that these communities spread into the cotton towns of North West England, with the football team of Bury taking on the Shaker name to acknowledge the Shaker community of Bury.The Shakers left England for the English colonies in North America in 1774. As they gained converts, the Shakers established numerous communities in the late-18th century through the entire 19th century. The first villages organized in Upstate New York and the New England states, and, through Shaker missionary efforts, Shaker communities appeared in the Midwestern states. Communities of Shakers were governed by area bishoprics and within the communities individuals were grouped into "family" units and worked together to manage daily activities. By 1836 eighteen major, long-term societies were founded, comprising some sixty families, along with a failed commune in Indiana. Many smaller, short-lived communities were established over the course of the 19th century, including two failed ventures into the Southeastern United States and an urban community in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Shakers peaked in population by the 1840s and early 1850s, with a membership between 4,000 and 9,000. Growth in membership began to stagnate by the mid 1850s. In the turmoil of the American Civil War and subsequent Industrial Revolution, Shakerism went into severe decline. As the number of living Shakers diminished, Shaker communes were disbanded or otherwise ceased to exist. Some of their buildings and sites have become museums, and many are historic districts under the National Register of Historic Places. The only active community is Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in Maine, which is composed of at least three active members.
Craig Colony for Epileptics was a residential facility for epileptics in Sonyea, Livingston County, New York, US.
Groveland Shaker Village, New York., 1890s. The photograph includes an 1842 meetinghouse (right), shops, and a four-story, late 1850s brick East Family building. New York State Museum, Albany.
