Shaker Village

About this property

Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village is a Shaker village near New Gloucester and Poland, Maine, in the United States. It is the last active Shaker community, with three members as of 2025. The community was established in either 1782, 1783, or 1793, at the height of the Shaker movement in the United States. The Sabbathday Lake meetinghouse was built in 1794. The entire property was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974. The Shakers were originally located in England in 1747, in the home of Mother Ann Lee (1736-1784). They developed from the religious group called the Quakers which originated in the 17th century. Both groups believed that everybody could find God within him or herself, rather than through clergy or rituals, but the Shakers tended to be more emotional and demonstrative in their worship. Shakers also believed that their lives should be dedicated to pursuing perfection, continuously confessing their sins, and attempting a cessation of sinning. The Shakers migrated to Colonial America in 1774 in pursuit of religious freedom. They built 19 communal settlements that attracted some 20,000 converts over the next century. The first Shaker village was built in New Lebanon, New York, at the Mount Lebanon Shaker Society. The other 18 communities were built in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Georgia and Florida. Strict believers in celibacy, Shakers maintained their numbers through conversion and adoption of orphans. The group reached its maximum size of about 6,000 full members in 1840. The Shaker settlement at Sabbathday Lake was established by a group of Shaker missionaries in 1782, and was then known as Thompson's Pond Plantation. The first members were from Gorham, Maine. The community grew to over two hundred members in less than a year. Its location in Cumberland County, Maine, made it the most northern and eastern of all the Shaker communes. They raised their meetinghouse in April 1794 and built their first dwelling across the road in 1795. The Sabbathday Lake community grew to a size of 1,900 acres (770 ha) with 26 large buildings by 1850. Buildings on the grounds included the meetinghouse and the Brethren's Shop, which still holds a working blacksmith shop and woodworking operation. A large new Central Dwelling House was built in 1883 or 1884. The Shakers strived to be as self-sufficient as possible, while being an active part of the community. They built a mill and farm that enabled them to sell produce and commercial goods to the outside world. By 1800, more than 140 believers lived at Sabbathday Lake community.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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