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!

.

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.

.

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

William the Cat

William, our resident furry paperweight and pest control technician, is resting comfortably after having some feline dental work taken care of yesterday. Thanks to the very kind people at Shaker Veterinary Hospital, William now has much cleaner and healthier teeth.

For those of you unfamiliar with William, he has lived in the Shaker Meeting House for about ten years now. William was adopted from a shelter and does his best to welcome all visitors and keep the SHS staff on their toes. He has certainly made an impression on many of our visitors, as he occasionally receives mail, and now even e-mail! For our college interns (many of whom live on campus and cannot have animals in their rooms), William provides a warm, furry reminder of pets back at home.

We are very grateful to Shaker Veterinary Hospital for partially sponsoring William's procedure and providing excellent care to our four-legged coworker.

.

Shaker Apple Bread Pudding

There is certainly a hint of Autumn in the air here at the Shaker site today. For that reason, we thought we might inspire a bit of home cooking by sharing an authentic Shaker recipe for Apple Bread Pudding. This recipe is from Amy Bess Miller and Persis Fuller's The Best of Shaker Cooking. According to the text, this recipe is from Mt. Lebanon Shaker Village.

Ingredients:

8 Slices of toast without crusts, cubed (About 5 cups)

1 & 1/2 cups of hot milk

4 tablespoons of melted butter

5 eggs

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg

1/2 cup of raisins

1 teaspoon of rose water *

4 apples pared, cored and diced (About 4 cups)

1/4 cup of brown sugar

Combine 5 cups of cubed toast with hot milk and 4 tablespoons of butter. Let stand for 30 minutes. Beat eggs until light. Add salt, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, raisins, rose water and apples. Add to bread mixture. Turn into buttered 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Sprinkle brown sugar over top. Bake uncovered at 300 degrees F. for 45 minutes. Serve with Apple Cream sauce. Serves 6-8.

*= Rose water was frequently used in Shaker recipes. It can be purchased at our gift shop in Albany, NY, online and in some Middle Eastern grocery stores.

Apples were extensively grown by the Shakers and were used to produce a number of different foods. Apples could be eaten fresh or dried, baked into pies, puddings, or sauces, made into cider, applesauce, or even vinegar. When sugar was scarce, apple cider sweetened dessert recipes.

The Shakers all came together as a community to harvest and process their apples. The brethren and boys picked the apples and ran the paring machines (apple peelers). The sisters and girls cored and trimmed the apples and were responsible for preparing the fruit for consumption or storage.

A portion of the Watervliet Shaker Community's orchard still exists today. We encourage you to visit and stroll among the trees.

.

Apple Clip Art from the University of Florida's Educational Technology Clearinghouse.

Save the Date! Fall Harvest Craft Fair Weekend - September 11 & 12

Our Fall Harvest Craft Fair Weekend will be on Saturday, September 11 and Sunday, September 12, from 10 am - 4 pm. Admission is $4.00 per person, $3.00 with a coupon (shown at the bottom of the post). SHS Members and those under 18 admitted free.

Visit many diverse crafters' booths, explore the historic site, enjoy a piece of pie and support the Shaker Heritage Society! We make you kindly welcome!

More information will follow soon!

(To receive $1.00 off the admission fee, print the coupon shown below!)

Under Construction!

For anyone trying to access our website (www.ShakerHeritage.org), please be advised that it may be periodically unavailable over the next few weeks. The reason? (Drum roll, please!) We are in the process of updating and will soon unveil a new and improved website! In the mean time, information about upcoming events and craft fairs will be available here on the blog. We thank you for your patience!

Ladder image from: http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/