The Shakers: FAQs
Who were the Shakers? Do they have something to do with the Amish or Quakers?
The Shakers and the Amish are both well-known for making lovely things—the Shakers for their furniture, the Amish for their quilts—but otherwise they have little in common. As for the Quakers, the Shakers were originally known as “Shaking Quakers,” and were also pacifist, but the two religions are entirely distinct.
Shakerism originated in England but really got off the ground when a charismatic early leader, “Mother” Ann Lee, brought a small group of her followers to America in 1774. The Shakers are celibate communitarians: they relinquish biological family bonds and all sexual relations for a larger spiritual family, and give up their personal property to share everything in common. In the early nineteenth century, the Shakers were known as a perfectionist sect, who strove to create a heaven on earth.
If the Shakers were celibate, how did they stay in business for so many years?
The Shakers increased their number by drawing converts, both adults and children. (Modern Shakers do not accept children.)
Are there any Shakers now?
A small group of Shakers lives in Maine.
How did the Shakers come to make such nice furniture?
The facile explanation is that, being celibate, they had energy to burn. A published explanation appears in the New Yorker. A larger explanation is provided by The Great Divorce. The aesthetics of Shakerism, I believe, cannot be divorced from the society’s religion or history– essentially, who they were.
