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    Home » Recipes » Everything Amish

    Shakers - A Late Arrival

    Published: May 7, 2015 · Updated: May 7, 2015 by Kevin Williams | Leave a Comment

    By Kevin Williams

    I was excited for the opportunity to visit the only remaining Shaker colony in the world. The colony is located at Sabbathday Lake, Maine. But I got started off on the wrong foot with the Shakers. We were supposed to meet at the colony at 2 p.m., but as I traversed the backroads of east-central Maine I noticed my gas gauage getting lower. So I turned off the main road into a small town to get gas. Then I made the mistake of asking the person behind the counter for directions back to the main road, thinking they might know a “short cut.”

    “Oh, just take right a right at that stop sign, go three miles and take another right and another right and you’ll be on the road to New Gloucester,”

    Sounded easy enough. But I ended up caught in a pinwheel of roads spiderwebbing in different directions, most of the roads had two or three names and even some of the town names sounded alike. I felt like I was going in a giant circle around the town of Cornish, Maine. I couldn’t get my GPS to work, my map was uselessly undetailed, and I was leery of asking any more locals for directions. But, finally, seeing the time at 1:40 (“I can’t be THAT far”, I reasoned) I found a gas station and tried again.

    “New Gloucester! You’re 90 minutes from New Gloucester, bud.”

    I eventually made it...just late....Heck, the Shakers can't be that busy, I reasoned, they've lived in the same spot for over 200 years, surely I can make up for some of the lost time with them from being late.

    There are four Shakers living at Sabbathday Lake. Sister Frances Carr, 88, and Sister June Carpenter, 76, and Brother Arnold Hadd. Brian Burke, 29, is a novice who just join and will try to stay the course. If he succeeds he could well save the Shakers from extinction.

    Bright Red Barns adorn the Shaker property

    Bright Red Barns adorn the Shaker property

    There really is no connection between the Amish church and the Shaker church. The Shakers originated out of a Methodist movement in the 1700s and the Amish emerged from an earlier Anabaptist tradition. The two churches share pacifist beliefs, but beyond that there is not a lot in common. Obviously the issues that separates the Shakers from many other groups is their adherence to celibacy. This means the church can only replenish its ranks by conversion not procreation.

    Part II: Meeting Brother Arnold Tomorrow

    « Shakers - Part II - Shaker Scenes and Brown Bread
    Shaker Sour Cream Cookies and Shaker Sugar Cookies »

    About Kevin Williams

    Hi, my name is Kevin Williams and I am owner of Oasis Newsfeatures and editor of The Amish Cook newspaper column.

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    Kevin Williams - The Amish Editor Amish Cook Column

    Hi There, I'm Kevin!

    Welcome to Amish365, where I share my knowledge of Amish cooking and culture! I’ve spent almost three decades exploring Amish settlements and kitchens from Maine to Montana and almost everywhere in between. I’ll occasionally throw in stories of my travels, journalism adventures (I’m a Pulitzer prize-nominated journalist), fascination with grocery stores and Kmarts, and much more!

    More about me →

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