Check Out Our New Website!

We are very happy to announce that we have a new website! Rick Conlee of Albany IT has worked on it and we are thrilled with the result. Be sure to go over to www.ShakerHeritage.org to check it out.

The Great Divorce

After seeing posters and other publicity for our upcoming event, many have curiously asked what a book called The Great Divorce has to do with the celibate Shakers. Yet this new work from author Ilyon Woo explores the story of Eunice Chapman, a woman who fought to regain custody of her children after her husband took them and joined the Shakers at Watervliet.

Ilyon Woo will be at the Shaker Heritage Society on Thursday, October 21st for a signing and reading. Visitors are welcome to arrive at 7:00 pm and explore the exhibit room and pick up a copy of The Great Divorce in the gift shop. The signing and reading begins at 7:30.

This article from the Troy Record explains more about the upcoming event at SHS.

This article from the Times Union offers an interview with author Ilyon Woo.

Hands to Work

On Tuesday, October 12, seven helpful students from Christian Brothers Academy visited the Shaker Historic Site and worked on a number of projects. Some cleaned out and organized the Shaker Garage (currently used for storage), while others painted picket fences and helped prepare for the upcoming Craft Fair. We were very thankful for their help and also wish to thank the teachers who accompanied the students. It was a truly productive day at the Shaker Site!

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While we are not absolutely sure it is the same school, Christian Brothers Academy students may have visited the Shaker Community (and site of their future school facility) over a century ago. According to a journal kept by one of the Shaker Brothers here at Watervliet:

July 9, 1877: Catholic School in Albany - All boys - had picnic in our field by the burying ground. Some 60 children and a dozen or more men.

June 18, 1878: 2 or 3 Christian Brothers with 60-70 of their school children having a picnic in the old field by the pond.

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As Christian Brothers Academy was founded in 1859, it is possible these entries do refer to early CBA students visiting the site.