Watervliet Shaker Village (Ohio)

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Watervliet Shaker Village was a Shaker community located in Kettering, Ohio, from 1806 to 1900. Its spiritual name was Vale of Peace and it was within the Union Village bishopric, or governing body. [1] [2]

The community was founded by many discontented members of the Beulah Presbyterian church and was named for the first Shaker community in the United States, Watervliet Shaker village in New York. The village at its peak had 100 residents, and it spanned 800 acres, 640 of which were in Montgomery and the remainder on the other side of County Line Road in Greene County. It produced and sold farm produce, garden seeds, and stocking yarn. [3]

The village closed in 1900 and the remaining residents moved to the Union Village Shaker settlement in Lebanon, Ohio. The village was sold to the State of Ohio. It was a State Hospital Farm until 1981 when the land in Montgomery County was deeded to the Miami Research Foundation. The land in Greene County had primarily been used for Mount Saint John. [3]

Papers, diaries, photographs and books of the village history are archived at the Dayton Metro Library in the "Shakers Collection". Five key individuals are mentioned: William J. Hamilton, Issachar Bates, Richard McNemar, Nancy Moore and Stephen Ball. [4]

There is a historic marker was installed in 2003 in Kettering just 788 feet north of Research Park Boulevard and County Line Road to mark the location of the one-time Shaker village. [3]

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Shaker communities

The Shakers are a sect of Christianity which practices celibacy, communal living, confession of sin, egalitarianism, and pacifism. After starting in England, the Shakers left that country 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.

Union Village Shaker settlement

The Union Village Shaker settlement was a village organized by Shakers in Turtlecreek Township, Warren County, Ohio.

References

  1. Whitewater Shaker Settlement. Shaker Historic Trail. National Park Service. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
  2. Stephen J. Paterwic. The A to Z of the Shakers . Scarecrow Press; 28 September 2009. ISBN   978-0-8108-7056-7. p. 229.
  3. 1 2 3 Marker #6-57 Watervliet Shaker Community. Remarkable Ohio: Marking Ohio's History. The Ohio Historical Society. Retrieved March 26, 2014.
  4. Shaker Collection, Dayton Metro Library. OhioLINK. Retrieved March 26, 2014.