Epilogue
First, let us address the question of historical accuracy in the story. The details of Ann Lee’s birth, early life and the establishment of the Shaker settlement at Watervliet, New York are as history records. So is the fact that she and other Shakers journeyed throughout the region preaching and recruiting converts. She did, indeed, go to Shirley, Massachusetts because there were, as mentioned in the story, some people there who were sympathetic to the Shakers. A Shaker village was established at Shirley in 1793, which continued to exist into the early 20th century and is now a museum.
What in the story is NOT historically accurate? Principally one thing-Ann Lee was not crucified. No one was crucified in Massachusetts (or New York, either); even the falsely accused Salem witches were hung, not burned at the stake or crucified. She was actually roughed up by a mob in Shirley on one occasion while there preaching, but she was not jailed or whipped and certainly not crucified. So, in the story that was a fever-induced vision. Did Ann Lee actually have such a vision? History does not record that, but her belief that she was the Second Coming of Christ in female form seems to have been quite genuine in her own mind and that of her followers. Given that, I don’t think it stretches credulity to imagine that she might have had a dream about being crucified.
Ann Lee died not too long after this story, in 1784, of natural causes, and was buried at the Shaker settlement in Watervliet. The Shakers continued on after her death and in fact prospered, establishing a number of settlements in New York and New England and later in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana as settlers moved west. In their settlements, the Shakers lived communally, with all property owned in common and everyone living in single-sex dormitories. A sort of celibate Christian Socialism, if you will.
They reached their height during the Second Great Awakening of the 1830s and 1840s, a period of religious revival in the United States, when many different cults and sects arose. At their peak, there were more than 6000 Shakers who believed that Ann Lee had been the female Christ (
Authors note: Accurate numbers are hard to come by, but that may not be very different from the census of Christians in 80 AD, 50 years after Jesus died). The Shakers continued to have women among their leaders throughout.
Eventually, their model proved unsustainable, largely because of celibacy. They depended for new members on converts, particularly young orphans from the streets of cities like New York and Boston, and there were just not enough of them. Today, only one active Shaker settlement remains, at Sabbathday Lake, Maine, currently populated by two elderly women and two younger men. Had they not been celibate, though, one could imagine that the Shakers might be thriving today, like another religious movement that started in New York in the 1820s, the Latter Day Saints, or Mormons, who number over 15 million around the world.
Despite their eventual decline, the Shakers made important contributions in architecture, furniture design, crafts and music, having influence in the broader culture well outside their communities. They were also known as early adopters of technology and inventors of many advances in agricultural and industrial technology, including the circular saw and the first wheel-driven washing machine.
Thanks to all who read this story and particularly to those who took time to comment.
Extra special thanks to Barbaria1 for critically reading it and encouraging me to post it and of course for contributing an absolutely killer chapter.
Ann Lee's grave at the Watervliet Shaker site
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A couple of examples of Shaker furniture. They are shown in museums around the world
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The 1826 round stone barn at Hancock Shaker Village, Massachusetts
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The circular saw invented by a Shaker woman, Tabitha Babbitt in 1813
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A Shaker washing exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876
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but I think your English is excellent and doesn't need any apologies. I'm glad you liked the story; it's one I enjoyed writing because of the real local history and the real historical figure.
