Music in Maine

This is the only known picture of a 19th century Shaker worship service taken while in progress. Given the importance of the Poland Spring Hotel and the Rickers to the Sabbathday Lake Shakers, the Shakers deemed it advisable to grant this rare privilege. Later the picture was used in The Aletheia, written by Sister Aurelia Mace.

The picture, with its emphasis on rows of worshippers and the strong lines of the ceiling beams, provides a visual equivalent for lives which were governed by order. Note that the girls and Sisters are seated on the opposite side of the Meeting Room from the boys and Brothers. Separation of the sexes was in keeping with the belief in celibacy.

During meeting, members sat facing the Elders and Eldresses who led the worship service. Seated behind the Shakers are visitors who were welcome to attend public meeting. Again, it was the Poland Spring Hotel that brought most visitors to the area.

Although the term "Shaker" derived from their religious dances, by this time the meeting consisted solely of testimonies and songs. The official name of the sect is the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing.

The photo was taken by the Poland Spring Hotel staff photographer.

Pictured are, from left, Claire Chace (b.1884), Laura Bailey (b. 1882), Lizzie Bailey (b.1886), Mamie Curtis (b. 1883).

Among the most significant contributions of the Shakers is their rich musical legacy. Much of their worship is expressed through inspired "gift" songs. The Quartette reflects a new use of music within the community, for entertainment.

As part of this trend, prohibitions against musical instruments were relaxed. Clubs such as the Quartette were formed to train young people in the skills of singing, playing instruments and elocution.

Careful presentation of the subjects is evident in this photograph. The Sisters have been posed so that their varying heights form a gentle arc that counteracts the visual rigidity of the background and verticality of their dresses. Uniform hand and head gestures reinforce the unity of the group. The use of foreground flowers with a draped candle stand produces the sense of a social rather than a religious gathering.

The Shaker School House at the Alfred Shaker Village in 1885.

In accordance with Massachusetts state law (controlling the District of Maine until 1820), provisions for the schooling of children at the Alfred community were made in 1813.

A decade later the Central Ministry at Mt. Lebanon, N.Y., sent Seth Youngs Wells (1767-1847), an able and learned Brother who had taught school before becoming a Shaker, to the eastern societies to improve the level of instruction.

Brother Seth was a proponent of the Lancastrian or Tutorial method. While at Alfred he taught briefly and trained a successor. From Alfred he proceeded on to Sabbathday Lake where he likewise improved the level of instruction.

A notable teacher at Alfred was Elder John Bell Vance (1833-1896), pictured second from right standing next to the Superintendent. Elder John taught from 1850 to 1856 and again from 1865 to 1880. Known among Shakers as a "Gatherer of Souls," he was a gifted speaker.

His oratorical skills served him well not only as an educator of children and leader of the community, but also as a spokesman for his religion. On a number of occasions he delivered public lectures in such cities as Portland, Boston, Lynn, Worcester, and New York.

Elder John's successor as teacher was Eldress Fannie Casey (1862-1911) who taught until the end of the century. Thereafter, Sisters and outside instructors alternated teaching duties until the closing of the school in 1931 when the Alfred and Sabbathday Lake communities consolidated.

At Sabbathday Lake a school house was constructed in 1880 under the direction of Brother Hewett Chandler. During that first school year, Sister Ada Cummings began a teaching career with twelve students which would last over two decades. Their education stressed, but was not restricted to, reading, writing and arithmetic.

Students attended school until the age of sixteen. Those with ability could then receive a Normal School education by correspondence. Successful completion of courses was the prerequisite for receiving teacher certification. It was Sisters so trained who succeeded Sr. Ada. From 1939 until the Shaker School was finally closed in 1950, however, instructors had to be hired.

Pictured from left, starting in the back row are Sabbathday Lake Shaker Sisters Ethel Peacock, Edith Gardner, Eva May Libby, Harriett Coolbroth, Etta Goodwin, Grace Philbrook, Minnie Greene, Dorothea Page and Della Haskell.

In the front row: Lillian Healey, Helena Lovely, Mabel Lovely, Frieda Coffin, Ellen Greene, Helen Page, Carol Coffin, Eleanor Philbrook and Avis Todd.

Note the number of Sisters wearing glasses. Eyeglasses were part of the medical care deemed so important by the Shakers. The Shakers welcomed modern medical care. In time, herbal doctors like Elder John Vance were replaced by professional physicians and surgeons and Shaker village Nurses' Shops were discontinued in favor of hospital care in Portland and Lewiston.

The Shakers also practiced preventive medicine, paying strict attention to the cleanliness of their farms, soundness of their diets and ventilation and lighting of their buildings. Of the eight Sisters pictured here who remained Shakers, six lived at least into their 70th year.

The photo was taken at the Church Family, Alfred Shaker Village.

Pictured from left to right: Elder Delmer Wilson, Brother Stephen Gowen, Charles Durrett, John Warren Callahan and Pup.

Warren Callahan of Malden, Massachusetts, was brought to Sabbathday Lake by his grandparents at the age of twelve in 1907. Born in Montpelier, Vermont, in 1900, Charles Durrett came to the community from Portland in 1909.

Sister Aurelia Mace, keeper of the Church Journal at the time, observed that Charlie was "very small for his age but as smart as a cricket." Neither boy officially joined the community. Pup was Elder William Dumont's pet dog.

The December 17, 1879, entry in the Sabbathday Lake Church Journal records that "Elder Otis (Sawyer) arrived late this evening with an artist who has come to take a view of our village to insert in the forthcoming 'History of Cumberland County.'" The history containing Goist's illustration was published in 1880.

The vantage point for this view was the property of the former Square House family, which was situated between the Church and Poland Hill families. Together the three families comprised the Sabbathday Lake (West Gloucester) Shaker community. At the time of Goist's visit, total membership at Sabbathday Lake was 70, consisting 21 brothers and 49 Sisters.

This picture was taken on the occasion of the 70th birthday of Sister Aurelia G. Mace (1835-1910). The cake and flowers were gifts of Edward and Amelia Ricker, proprietors of the Poland Spring Hotel.

One of the outstanding Believers of the era. Aurelia came with her parents to Sabbathday Lake from Strong, in 1836.

For nearly a quarter of a century beginning in 1856 she taught school for Shaker children. Thereafter, as a Trustee of the Society, Sr. Aurelia turned her attention to developing the nascent fancy goods industry. She introduced new products such as Shaker Lemon Syrup and revived the traditional fir balsam pillow and horse-hair sieve and brush industries.

All the while, Sr. Aurelia found time to promote her religion through her literary gift. Among those with whom she corresponded was Leo Tolstoi. In 1899 a collection of her letters and essays entitled The Aletheia: Spirit of Truth" was published in Farmington. It remains one of the clearest expositions on the Shaker faith.

Pictured from left to right: back row: Sisters Ada Cummings, Nellie Love and Sarah Fletcher middle row: Sisters Amanda Stickney, Elizabeth Haskell, Aurelia Mace, Eldress Harriet Goodwin and Laura Love; front row: Fannie Simpson and Lizzie Bailey.

Jennie Eastman was a photographer from Boston who visited the community on several occasions. According to the Sabbathday Lake Church Journal, on this day she photographed the Sisters individually, as well as in a group.

Having subjects glance in different directions was a common convention of Victorian photography.

Note the habits worn by the Sisters, particularly the variety of designs and patterns. Shaker dress was neither drab nor entirely uniform. Especially colorful were kerchiefs like the one worn by Eldress Harriet.

By this time, however, most Sisters preferred to wear a yoke over the shoulders rather than a kerchief. Another alteration of the costume took place in the mid-1890s when wearing the bonnet became optional.

The two buildings symbolize the blending of the old and the new at the Sabbathday Lake Shaker community. In contrast to the traditional 1794 Meeting House designed by Brother Moses Johnson (1752-1842) of Enfield, N.H., the 1883 Dwelling House was designed by the Portland architectural firm of Fassett and Stevens and built under the supervision of George Brock also of Portland.

Groundbreaking took place on April 24, 1883 and the community ate its first meal in the 40 foot by 80 foot, five-story building on Thanksgiving Day 1884.

The windmill in the background pumped water from a well to a water tower. In the foreground is the community vegetable garden.

The 1880 Alfred Church Journal records that on January 29, 1880, "Phares F. Goist the Artist came today and took a Bird's eye view of our beautiful Shaker Home which is to be inserted in the forthcoming 'History of York Co.'"

Visible from the left to the right are the Church family and Second Family and in the distance, the disbanded Third or Gathering Family. At the time 19 Brothers and 36 Sisters resided at the community.

The long time friendship between the Sabbathday Lake Shakers and the Rickers of Poland Spring benefited other Shaker societies.

This photo was taken at the Notman Photographic Studio at the Poland Spring House. The photo shows the Canterbury (NH) Quartette and some of the Sabbathday Lake sisters in 1897.

The Canterbury Shakers had come to the hotel to entertain in the Music Hall. The concert raised $76 for the Canterbury Shakers, "for the betterment of their Shaker home."

Fifth from the left is Sister Aurelia Mace of Sabbathday Lake. Fourth from the right is Eldress Dorothy Durgin from Canterbury, famed for her promotion of the Shaker cloak, which was known as the "Dorothy Cloak" in her honor.

The photo, taken in 1962 for the Historic American Buildings Survey, shows the right side of the meeting room at the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Community.

The Meeting House was built in 1794. Brother Moses Johnson of the Enfield, New Hampshire, Shaker Community probably was the designer. The stair wing was added in 1839.

The Youth's Guide in Zion was originally published by the Shakers in 1842. The work is attributed to Elder Elisha D. Blakeman of the New Lebanon, N.Y., Shakers.

The era when it was written (late 1830s to early 1850s) is known as "The Time of Mother's Work" or the "Era of Spirit Manifestations."

"Mother's Work" takes its name from the era's attempt to reinvigorate the Shaker church and to learn more about Mother Anne Lee, the founder of the Shaker church. The earliest Believers (the Shakers' name for themselves) were concerned that the newer converts would not be able to feel the intensity of the faith.

"Mother's Work" became a time of intense spirituality and a prodigious production of gift drawings and gift songs that added to the nature of faith and worship at many levels.

Elder Joseph Brackett's song "Simple Gifts" and Eldress Hannah Cahoon's drawing "Tree of Life," came from this time period.

The Youth's Guide in Zion states on its cover that it was "given by inspiration." Inspiration was the root of the gift songs and gift drawings, as well.

The author, Elder Elisha was a caretaker for the young as well as a craftsman, broom maker, joiner and printer. He also served his Shaker community as a family deacon and as an elder.