For many in the Granite State, the name is familiar, but the story behind it remains a mystery.
“When you grow up in New Hampshire, you have the Shaker Village in your head, but a lot of people don’t know a lot about the Shakers,” said Rae Easter, the marketing and development coordinator at the Shaker Village in Canterbury.
“Some people think they were like the Amish, but they were so different from the Amish, and people don’t realize how progressive they really were, especially in those times,” Easter said.
Easter and Joan Brodsky, a member of the Shaker Village’s board of trustees for the past seven years, are the voices out front, promoting and explaining and, hopefully, luring people to the Village this weekend for this year’s annual Christmas extravaganza, called Merry Merry Canterbury.
The tradition began about 10 years ago. Both days will feature a pair of new presentations, including the “Stairway to the Clouds” in an old horse barn full of trees and lights and crafts, and a theatrical production about a historical figure in Shaker history.
Those events cost money to stage, as all Village functions do, and the spectacle this weekend of the annual lights and dance and singing is viewed as a rich source of income for the Shaker Village, needed for the upkeep of an attraction that was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, and the National Historic Landmarks Program in 1993.
Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for members, free for kids. A separate fee of $50 will be charged for candlelight tours at 4 and 5 p.m. on both days in what Shaker staff and volunteers hope will produce a sizable chunk of the budgetary pie, one year after this holiday festival was essentially shut down because of COVID.
The candlelight tours will bathe the 25 original Shaker buildings and some of the 700 acres in candlelight.
“They are special-themed tours, and you won’t get that tour at any other time of the year,” Easter said. “We’re going to make it special and we think it’s worth it.”
Added Brodsky, “We maintain the Village with that money, but because of COVID, we have not made our goals. We’re trying to make some money and let everyone experience the beauty and simplicity here.”
Beauty and simplicity are two themes that the Shakers greatly subscribed to. In fact, this weekend is geared toward more than just Christmas. It’s about a spirit and a calm. For all.
“We don’t want to make it so Christmas-oriented,” Brodsky explained. “We want to make it into a celebration of winter and the solstice and all the holidays, although the Shakers were Christian.”
They were also way ahead of their time, founded in the mid 18th century in England by a woman who later became known as Mother Ann Lee.
Lee had a novel vision back then: equality among men and women.
“They believed in simplicity and equality for all,” Easter said, “and they were innovative and advanced in technology.”
Brodsky, referring to Lee, said, “She was one of those rare souls who was charismatic and zealous and she could lead people. She had an idea for a utopia here on earth and her philosophy spawned all that creativity and entrepreneurship.”
Numbers dropped through the 19th century, peaking in 1803 with a community of 300 worshippers in Canterbury.
The Canterbury Shakers disbanded in 1957. The historic buildings – some dating back to the late 18th century – have been maintained through private means, annual events and daily tours.
Over the past 60 years, the site has been preserved through easements, fundraising and volunteer work.
As for this final holiday weekend, the dance-driven stage presentation of “Birdie” is the mastermind of the Shaker’s dancer-in-residence, Lorraine Chapman.
Chapman dug through archives and uncovered the story, documenting the life of Alberta MacMillan Kirkpatrick, an orphan who arrived at the Shaker Village in 1929 at the age of 11 and was the last child raised by the Shakers.
Kirkpatrick died five years ago at the age of 98.
Birdie will be shown on both days this weekend at 3 p.m. That and the Candlelight Tours are the events that Shaker officials expect will be most popular with the public, and those revenue streams are vital after COVID forced the cancellation of most of the festival last year.
“The event has been successful in the past,” Easter said. “People are looking for holiday things to do after last year, and I love it when right away people sense how beautiful and peaceful it is here.”