Shakers expressed their spiritual awakening through spontaneous motion and dance, particularly the practice of turning or whirling. David R. Lamson, “Two Years’ Experience Among the Shakers,” 1848.
Shakers expressed their spiritual awakening through spontaneous motion and dance, particularly the practice of turning or whirling. David R. Lamson, “Two Years’ Experience Among the Shakers,” 1848. Credit: Courtesy of N.H. Historical Society

First known as Shaking Quakers, the Shakers established their first settlement in New Hampshire in 1792 on a 100-acre farm donated by Benjamin Whitcher of Canterbury.

A new religious sect founded in England, Shakerism believed in communal property; celibacy; pacifism; equality across social, economic, gender, racial and spiritual lines; and separation from the world.

The community in Canterbury grew to about 250 Shakers, divided into four “families,” to be self-supporting, meeting their own agricultural and industrial needs with surplus for sale.

Believing that work is worship and that God dwells in the integrity of labor and the quality of craftsmanship, they devoted their “hands to work and hearts to God.”

The “Shaker” name became known for quality and reliability and is considered among the first American “brands.” Canterbury Shaker Village, now a nonprofit museum, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1993.

N.H Historical Society