The Communistic Societies of the United States by Charles Nordhoff

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There are two Shaker societies in Maine--one at Alfred, the other at New
Gloucester.

_Alfred_.

The society is near Alfred, in York County, about thirty miles
southwesterly from Portland. Its estate of eleven hundred acres lies in
a pretty situation, between hills, and includes a large pond and an
important water-power. The land is not very fertile or easily
cultivated. They sold off last year an outlying tract of timber-land for
$28,000, and were glad to be rid of it.

The society consists now of two families, having between sixty-five and
seventy members, of whom two fifths are men and the remainder women.
They are all Americans but two, of whom one is Irish and one Welsh.

The society was "gathered" in 1794; there were then three families; and
in 1823 it had two hundred members. Twelve years ago one of the
families, being small, was drawn in to the others, and the buildings it
occupied have since been let out. The decrease began to be rapid about
thirty years ago, when the founders, who had become very aged, died off,
and new members did not come in in sufficient numbers to take their
places. Two thirds of the present members were brought into the society
as children, many being brought by their parents: others, orphans,
adopted. Twenty per cent, of the present membership are over fifty years
of age.

The two families now raise a few garden seeds, make brooms, hair sieves,
dry measures, keep a tan-yard, and make besides most of their home
supplies. They also farm their own land. They have leased to outside
people a saw-mill and grist-mill which they own. The young women make
small baskets, fans, and other fancy articles, which are sold during the
summer at neighboring sea-side watering-places. They hire a few outside
laborers.

About a quarter of the people eat no meat. They have improved their
sanitary regulations in the last twenty years, and have almost
extirpated fevers. Formerly cancer was a frequent disease among them,
but since they ceased to eat pork this has disappeared.

They take nine or ten newspapers, and encourage reading; have a small
library, and a good school, in which thirteen children are taught. The
people have been long-lived; only a few weeks before I visited Alfred,
died at the Church Family Lucy Langdon Nowell, aged ninety-eight. She
was born on the 4th of July, 1776, and had lived almost all her life in
the society, her father having been one of its founders, and the owner
of some of the land on which the society now live. Had she lived long
enough, she was to have been taken to the proposed Centennial Exhibition
at Philadelphia.

In the last ten years this society has maintained its numbers, but has
not gained. They do not receive many applications for membership; and of
those who apply, not more than one in ten "makes a good Shaker."

The Alfred Society desired a year or two ago to remove to a milder
climate; they offered their entire property for $100,000, but found no
purchaser at the price, and determined to remain. Their buildings are in
excellent order; and they are prosperous, having, besides the income
from their different industries, a fund at interest. They have never had
any defalcation or loss from unfaithful agents or trustees, and they
have no debt.

I was told that the first circular saw ever made in the United States
was invented by a Shaker at Alfred.

_New Gloucester_.

The New Gloucester Society lies in Cumberland County, about twenty-five
miles northwest of Portland. It consists of two families, having
together about seventy members, of whom one third are men. In 1823 it
had three families, the third being gathered in 1820, and broken up in
1831. The society had in 1823 one hundred and fifty members.

It was "gathered" in 1794; its members are now all Americans except two,
who are Scotch. Among them are persons who were farmers, merchants,
printers, wool-weavers, and Some mechanics.

The Church Family lives in a valley, the Gathering Family on a high
ridge, about a mile off, and overlooking an extensive tract of country.
The society has two thousand acres of land, and owns a saw-mill,
grist-mill, and a very complete machine shop. The people raise garden
seeds, make brooms, dry measures, wire sieves, and the old-fashioned
spinning-wheel, which, it seems, is still used in Maine and New
Hampshire by country-women to make stocking yarn. But its most
profitable industry is the manufacture of oak staves for molasses
hogsheads, which are exported to the West Indies. One of the elders of
this society, Hewitt Chandler, a man of uncommon mechanical ingenuity,
and the inventor of a mowing-machine which was made here for some years,
has contrived a way of bending staves without setting them up in the
cask, which saves much time and labor, and makes this part of their
business additionally profitable. They made last year also a thousand
dollars' worth of pickles; and the women make fancy articles in their
spare time.

They employ from fifteen to twenty laborers in their mills and other
works, most of whom are boarded and lodged on the place.

The meeting-house at this place was built in 1794, and the dwelling of
the Church Family in the following year. Both are of wood, are still in
good order, and have never been re-shingled.

The second family at this place was "gathered" in 1808, at Gorham, in
Maine, and removed to its present location in 1819. It had then twenty
brethren and thirty-two sisters; and has now only twenty members in all.

Very few of the people here eat meat. Some drink tea, but coffee is not
used. They have flower gardens, and would have an organ or melodeon if
they could afford it. The young people promise well; and they have
lately received several young men as members, sons of neighboring
farmers, who had worked for them as hired people for a number of years.

This society is less prosperous than most of the others. It has met with
several severe losses by unfaithful and imprudent agents and trustees,
who in one case ran up large debts for several years, contrary to the
wise rule of the Shakers to "owe no man any thing," and in another case
brought loss by defalcation. The hill family have built a large stone
house, but owing to losses have not been able to complete it. The
buildings at New Gloucester show signs of neglect; but the people are
very industrious, and have in the last three years paid off a large sum
which they owed through the default of their agents; and they will work
their way out in the next two years. To prevent their being entirely
crippled, the other societies helped them with a subscription.

At New Gloucester, also, the people are long-lived, some having died at
the age of eighty-six; and very many living beyond seventy.

The societies at Alfred and New Gloucester were founded after a
"revival" among the Free-will Baptists; and of the present members who
came in later, there were Universalists, Baptists, Methodists, and
Adventists or Millerites.

There are two societies in New Hampshire, both prosperous: one at
Canterbury, the other at Enfield.

_Canterbury._

The society at Canterbury lies on high ground, about twelve miles north
by east from Concord. It consists of three families, of which, however,
two only are independent; the third, which has but fifteen members,
receiving its supplies from the Church Family, which contains one
hundred members. The three families have in all one hundred and
forty-five members. In 1823 they had over two hundred, and forty years
ago they had about three hundred.

Forty of the whole number are under twenty-one; and one third are males,
two thirds females. The majority are young and middle-aged people; the
oldest member is now eighty-three, and half a dozen are near seventy.
The people have been generally long-lived, and one member lived to over
one hundred years of age.

The greater part grew up in the society; but they have five young Scotch
people, brought over by their parents. Of those who have joined in later
years, the most were Adventists; others Free-will Baptists and
Methodists. They have not gained in numbers in ten years, and few
applicants nowadays remain with them.

This society is prosperous. It owns three thousand acres of rather poor
farming land, some of which is in wood and timber. It has also a farm in
Western New York, where it maintains eight hundred sheep. Its industries
are varied: they make large washing-machines and mangles for hotels and
public institutions, weave woolen cloths and flannels, make sarsaparilla
syrup, checkerberry oil, and knit woolen socks. They also make brooms,
and sell hay; have a saw-mill; make much of what they use; and they keep
excellent stock, having one enormous and admirably arranged barn. The
sisters also make fancy articles, for which they have a good market from
the summer visitors to the mountains, with whom the Canterbury Shakers
are justly favorites.

Their buildings are very complete and in excellent order. They have a
steam laundry, with mangle, and an admirably arranged ironing-room; a
fine and thoroughly fitted school-house, with a melodeon, and a special
music-room; an infirmary for the feeble and sick, in which there is a
fearful quantity of drugs; and they take twelve or fifteen newspapers,
and have a library of four hundred volumes, including history, voyages,
travels, scientific works, and stories for children, but no novels.

The Canterbury Society was "gathered" in 1792; the leading men owned the
farm on which the buildings now stand, and gave the land to the
community. The old gambrel-roofed meeting-house was built in 1792, and
still stands in good order. The founders and early members were
Free-will Baptists, who became Shakers after a great "revival." They had
some property originally; and soon began to manufacture spinning-wheels,
whips, sieves, mortars, brooms, scythe-snaths, and dry measures; they
established also a tannery. As times changed, they dropped some of these
industries and took up others. One of their members invented the
washing-machine which they now make, and they hold the patent-right for
it.

They employ six mechanics, non-members, and occasionally others. The
members mostly eat meat, drink tea but not coffee, and a few of the aged
members are indulged in the use of chewing-tobacco. They take fewer
children than formerly, and prefer to take young men and women from
eighteen to twenty-four. They take great pains to amuse as well as
instruct the children; for the girls, gymnastic exercises are provided
as well as a flower garden; the boys play at ball and marbles, go
fishing, and have a small farm of their own, where each has his own
garden plot. Once a week there is a general "exercise" meeting of the
children, and they are, of course, included in the usual meetings for
worship, reading, and conversation.

The "shops" or work-rooms are all excellently fitted; in the girls'
sewing-room I found a piano, and a young sister taking her music-lesson.

The children are trained to confess their sins to the elders, in the
Shaker fashion, and this is thought to be a most important part of their
discipline.

In the dwelling-house and near the kitchen I noticed a great number of
buckets, hung up to the beams, one for each member, and these are used
to carry hot water to the rooms for bathing. The dwellings are not
heated with steam. The dining-room was ornamented with evergreens and
flowers in pots.

They have no physician, but in the infirmary the sisters in charge have
sufficient skill for ordinary cases of disease.

The people are not great readers. The Bible, however, is much read. They
are fond of music.

In summer they entertain visitors at a set price, and have rooms fitted
for this purpose. In the visitors' dining-room I saw this printed
notice:

"At the table we wish all to be as free as at home, but we dislike the
wasteful habit of leaving food on the plate. No vice is with us the less
ridiculous for being fashionable.

"Married persons tarrying with us overnight are respectfully notified
that each sex occupy separate sleeping apartments while they remain."

They had at Canterbury formerly a printing-press, and printed a now
scarce edition of hymns, and several books. This press has been sold.

The trustees here give once a year an inventory and statement of
accounts to the elders of the Church Family. In the years 1848-9 they
suffered severe losses from the defalcation of an agent or trustee, but
they have long ago recovered this loss, and now owe no debts.

Agriculture they believe to be the true base of community life, and if
their land were fertile they would be glad to leave off manufacturing
entirely. But on such land as they have they cannot make a living.

The leading elder of the society remarked to me that, though in numbers
they were less than formerly, the influence of the Canterbury Society
upon the outside world was never so great as now: their Sunday meetings
in summer are crowded by visitors, and they believe that often their
doctrines sink deep into the hearts of these chance hearers.

_Enfield, N. H._

The Society at Enfield lies in Grafton County, about twelve miles
southeast from Dartmouth College, and two miles from Enfield Station, on
the Northern New Hampshire Railroad. It is composed of three families,
having altogether at this time one hundred and forty members, of whom
thirty-seven are males and one hundred and three females. This
preponderance arises chiefly, I was told, from the large number of young
sisters. There are thirty-five youth under twenty-one years of age, of
whom eight are boys and twenty-seven girls. In 1823 the Enfield Society
had over two hundred members; thirty years ago it had three hundred and
thirty members. They do not now receive many applications for
membership, and of those who apply but few remain.

This society was "gathered" in 1793, and consisted then of but one
family or community. It arose out of a general revival of religion in
this region. A second family was formed in 1800, and the third, the
"North Family," in 1812. They lost some members during the war of the
Rebellion, young men who became soldiers, and some others who were drawn
away by the general feeling of unrest which pervaded the country. They
like to take children, but are more careful than formerly to ascertain
the characters of their parents. "We want a good kind; but we can't do
without some children around us," I was told.

The society has about three thousand acres of land, part of it being an
outlying farm, ten or a dozen miles away. The buildings are remarkably
substantial. The dwelling of the Church Family is of a beautiful
granite, one hundred feet by sixty, and of four full and two attic
stories; some of the shops are also of granite, others of brick, and in
the other families stone and brick have also been used. There is an
excellently arranged infirmary, a roomy and well-furnished school-room,
a large music-room in a separate building; and at the Church Family they
have a laundry worked by water-power, and use a centrifugal dryer,
instead of the common wringer.

Nearly the whole of their present real estate was brought into the
society as a free gift by the founders, who were farmers living there;
and many of the early members brought in considerable means, for those
days. When they gathered into a community they began to add
manufacturing to their farming work, and the Enfield Shakers were among
the first to put up garden seeds. Besides this, they made
spinning-wheels, rakes, pitchforks, scythe-snaths, and had many looms.
Until within thirty years they wove linen and cotton as well as woolen
goods, and in considerable quantities.

At present they put up garden seeds, make buckets and tubs, butter-tubs,
brooms, dry measures, gather and dry roots and herbs for medicinal use,
make maple-sugar in the spring and apple-sauce in the winter; sew shirts
for Boston, and keep several knitting-machines busy, making flannel
shirts and drawers and socks. They also make several patent medicines,
among which the "Shaker anodyne" is especially prized by them; and
extracts, such as fluid valerian; and in one of the families the women
prepare bread, pies, and other provisions, which they sell in a
neighboring manufacturing village. Finally, they own a woolen-mill and a
grist-mill; but these they have leased. One of their members has
invented and patented for the society a folding pocket-stereoscope.

Besides all these industries, uncommonly varied and numerous even for
the Shakers, they have carpenter, blacksmith, tailor, and shoemaker
shops, and produce or make up a great part of what they consume.
Moreover, as in most of the Shaker societies, the women make up fancy
articles for sale.

The members of the society are almost all Americans, and the greater
part of them came in as little children. Of foreigners, there are one
Englishman, two of Irish birth, one of Welsh, and two French Canadians.
As elsewhere, Baptists, Methodists, and Millerites or Second Adventists
contributed the larger part of the membership.

They hire from twenty to thirty-five laborers, according to the season
of the year.

Most of the members are under forty, and almost all are farmers. I heard
of one lawyer; and one when he entered had been a law student. Almost
all are meat eaters, and they use both tea and coffee. A few of the
older men are allowed to chew tobacco. There are no fevers in the
society, and their health is excellent, which arises partly I suppose
from the fact that the ground upon which the buildings stand has
thorough natural drainage. Some of their members have lived to the age
of ninety--which is not an uncommon age, by the way, for Shakers--and on
the register of deaths I found these ages: 89, 86, 86, 80, 80, 79, 76,
75, and so on.

They have a library of about two hundred volumes in each family,
exclusive of strictly religious books; and almost all the younger people
can read music, one of the members being a thorough teacher and good
musical drill-master. They read the Bible a good deal, and sometimes
pray aloud in their meetings. Once or twice a week they hold reading
meetings, at which some one reads either from a book of history or
biography, or extracts from newspapers.

There was some years ago a defalcation in one of the societies, which
"came largely if not entirely through neglect of the rule not to owe
money." The family which suffered in this case has not entirely
recovered from the blow; it still owes a small debt.

An annual business report is now made by the trustees to the ministry
who are set over this society and that at Canterbury.

There is but one Shaker Society in Connecticut, at _Enfield, Conn._

The Society is in Hartford County, about twelve miles from Springfield,
Massachusetts. It was founded in 1792; and the meeting-house then built,
of brick, is still standing, but is now used for other purposes. There
were formerly five families, and in 1823 this society had two hundred
members. At present there are but four families, one of which is small,
and contains only a few aged people, too much attached to their old home
to be removed. There are in the four families one hundred and fifteen
persons, of whom the Church Family has sixty, and the Gathering Family
twenty-five. One third are males and two thirds females; and there are
forty-three children and youth under twenty-one, of whom eighteen are
boys and twenty-four girls. So late as 1848 this society numbered two
hundred persons.

They own about three thousand three hundred acres of land, and make
their living almost entirely by farming. Before the rebellion they had
built up a large trade in the Southern States in garden seeds; but the
outbreak of the war not only lost them this trade, but in bad debts they
lost nearly all they had saved in thirty years. They now breed fine
stock, which they sell; and they sell some hay, but only to buy Indian
corn in its stead. They are careful and excellent farmers. The women
make some articles of fancy work. They employ fifteen hired men
constantly.

This society is prosperous. One of the families has just erected a large
and, for Shakers, uncommonly stylish dwelling; and all the buildings are
in good repair and well painted. Nevertheless they have not had an easy
task to make a living. "If we have got any thing here," said an elder to
me, "it is because we saved it." They have, however, the advantage of an
excellent farm. In the beginning they raised garden seeds, and were
among the first in this country to establish this business, and at one
time they made lead pipe--but the invention of machinery drove them out
of that business.

They eat meat, and use tea and coffee moderately; and a few of the old
members take snuff. They are mostly Americans, with a few Scotch and
English, and more than half of the adult members came in when they were
full-grown. About forty years ago there was in Rhode Island a religious
revival among a sect of Baptists who call themselves "Christians," and
many of these entered the Enfield Society. They now adopt a good many
children, and do not seem displeased at the result. They have a school,
and are fond of music, having a cabinet-organ in their music-room, and
holding a weekly singing-school for the young people. They take "a great
many" newspapers and magazines, and have a variety of books, but no
regular library. The elders have the selection of reading-matter, and,
as in all the societies, exclude what they think injurious.

They have been, they told me, somewhat careless of sanitary regulations,
and have had typhus fever in their houses; but they are now generally
healthy.

They make very few articles for themselves, but buy a good deal.

They make no regular business statement, and owe no debts. They once had
a defalcation, but only of a trifling amount.

There are four Shaker societies in Massachusetts: at Harvard, Shirley,
Tyringham, and Hancock.

_Harvard._

The Harvard Society lies in Worcester County, about thirty miles
northwest from Boston. It was founded in 1793; and had in 1823 two
hundred members. It has now four families, containing in all ninety
persons, of whom sixteen are children and youth under twenty-one--four
boys and twelve girls. Of the seventy-four adult members, seventeen are
men and fifty-seven women. The Church Family has fifty members, of whom
forty-one are women and girls, and nine men and boys. It is usual among
the Shakers to find more women than men in a society or family, but at
Harvard the disproportion of the sexes is uncommonly great.

The members are mainly Americans, but they have some Scotch, Germans,
and Welsh. A considerable proportion of the present membership came in
as adults, and these were, before becoming Shakers, for the most part
Adventists, some however coming from the Baptist and Methodist
denominations. The elder of the Gathering Family was a Baptist, and the
leading minister was an English Wesleyan. The people are mostly in
middle life. The health of this society has always been good; the
_average_ age at death, I was assured, ranged for a great number of
years between sixty to sixty-eight. One sister died at ninety-three, and
other members died at from eighty to eighty-six.

Their home farm consists of about eighteen hundred acres; and they have
besides a farm in Michigan, and another in Massachusetts. Their living
is made almost entirely by farming; and they have drained very
thoroughly a considerable piece of swamp, which yields them large crops
of hay. They make brooms, have a nursery, and press and put up herbs;
and employ sixteen or seventeen hired laborers.

They have a small library, but "do not let books interfere with work;"
there is a school, but no musical instrument; most of the people eat
meat, and drink tea and coffee; and a few are indulged in the practice
of chewing tobacco. They are not very musical, but they take a great
many newspapers.

"Do you like to take children?" I asked; and an eldress replied, "Yes,
we like to take children--but we don't like to take monkeys;" and, in
general, the Shakers have discovered that "blood will tell," and that
they can do much better with the children of religious parents than with
those whose fathers or mothers were dissolute or irreligious.

This society has no debt, and is prosperous, though its buildings are
not all in first-rate order according to the Shaker standard, which is
very high. It has suffered from one defalcation.

The ministry among the Shakers usually occupy their spare time in some
manual labor, as I have explained in a previous chapter. The leading
minister over Harvard and Shirley makes brooms; his predecessor made
shoes. The leading female minister is a dress-maker.

_Shirley_.

The Society of Shirley lies about two miles from Shirley Station, on the
Fitchburg Railroad. It was gathered in 1793, the meeting-house having
been built the year before. Mother Ann Lee passed nearly two years among
the people in this vicinity, preaching to them; and this accounts for
the early building of the meeting-house. In 1823 the Shirley Society had
one hundred and fifty members. At present it has two families, numbering
altogether forty-eight persons; of these twelve are children and youth
under twenty-one--eight girls and four boys. Of the adults, six are men
and thirty women. Until a year ago there were three families, but
decreasing numbers led them to call in one; and they now let the
buildings formerly used by that one. Thirty-five years ago this society
numbered one hundred and fifty persons; twenty-four years ago,
seventy-five; twenty years ago it had sixty. As the old people, the
founders, died off, new members did not come in. They have not now many
applications for membership; and of the children they adopt and bring
up, not one in ten becomes a Shaker.

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