Here in Canterbury we had an orchard of over 1,000 maples, situated about a mile northeast of the village. Maple products such as syrup, maple sugar cakes, pulled candy and clay sugar formed a thriving industry for many years.
A variety of many types of baskets were made. Elder Daniel Boler and Daniel Crossman of Mt. Lebanon invented machinery for splint making and basket working. This craft was learned in early years from traveling groups of Indians. Between 1809 to 1871 an unending variety of several patterns were made. Immense baskets for herbs, knitting, egg and fruit baskets or utility baskets, difficult to classify were woven. The popular baskets or boxes were among the most unique made in several of the societies from the middle 1800’s to the present. The poplar tree is native to our woods, they were cut when frozen into 24 in. lengths, put through a Shaker invented plane, taking off thin strips of poplar, then shredded into fine strips, first by hand, later Brother Irving Greenwood devised an electric powered machine to shred the poplar. It was woven on hand looms. A paper pasted on the reverse side made it firmer and less susceptible to breakage. Lined with various colored satins, they presented neat utility or sewing boxes.
No product of the Shaker wood-working shops possesses greater charm than the multi-sized oval boxes, made in nests of from 5 to 12. The boxes were joined with a method called fingers, a novel refinement over the old style of joining. Brother Delmar Wilson still active at our Maine society made oval carriers by the thousand. These lined with satin fitted with emery, cushion and wax made attractive sewing boxes.
Women who joined the societies were often experienced in the varied domestic arts practiced in colonial homes, so it was natural they continue to spin yarn, weave and dye cloth, dip candles and engage in the countless occupations of that period. Looms were used and constructed at the very outset. Carding, spinning and the weaving of woolen, cotton and cotton-wool cloth done exclusively by the sisters, who also hatcheled the flax for linen cloth. The first bird’s-eye linen was a Shaker product. Until 1809 when a machine was invented, the cloth was cut with shears made by Shaker blacksmiths. The looms were in constant use until 1853 when the comparative cheapness of mill cloth made it seem uneconomical for the Shakers to rely on their own produce. However, weaving of handkerchiefs, toweling, carpets and spreads continued up to 1865. In Kentucky the Shakers grew mulberry trees so as to raise silk worms for the weaving of silk. Some of the first iridescent silk was woven in Kentucky, also the Sabbathday Lake Shakers made some of the first wrinkle-proof material. This was obtained by placing the cloth between layers of chemically treated paper, pressed in a Shaker invented screw-press, using heat underneath, producing a shiny surface on one side, a dull water silk on the reverse.
The Shaker brothers were expert agriculturists and mechanics, making woodenware such as pails, tubs, measures, boxes, spinning wheels, rakes and all the furniture to supply the houses with the necessities of living. Chairs were made in all societies for their own use; however, at Mt. Lebanon chairs of all sizes were made for sale, up to the close of that society. A particularly interesting chair, called a tilting chair, was made by the addition of a novel invention called a boot, which fitted on the bottom of the back legs like a ball and socket joint. The chair revolves on the boot while the boot remains stationary—secured with a piece of rawhide, it enabled one to tilt back without tipping over or leaving mars on the floors.
Saxon and Merino sheep were raised to obtain the finest wool for weaving. Thoroughbred horses and cattle were raised for sale. Some of the first thoroughbred Guernseys were purchased by the Canterbury Shakers from the English Isle of Guernsey. The brothers looked upon the soil as something to be redeemed from rugged barrenness into smiling fertility and beauty. So their vast acreage yielded abundantly as proof of their devotion. From early records of farming, we learn that wheat, oats, rye, barley, corn, flax and potatoes were the first crops cultivated. Fruit trees were planted at an early date. Shakers were taught that agriculture was a part of their religion. A Gardener’s Manual was published in 1843. In this one writer expressed the Shakers’ belief that “if you would have a lovely garden, you should live a lovely life”.
Among the inventions was a Screw-Propeller, a rotary or disk harrow, automatic spring, the sash balance and threshing machine. The Shakers were among the first to use water power to run their various mills, this led to the invention of a governor of the overshot water wheel, also a Turbine water wheel. Many inventions influence our homes today such as the machinery for making the tongue and groove boards and the first flat broom invented by Theodore Bates of Watervliet. Broom corn was raised and brushes manufactured as early as 1798. Table swifts for winding yarn was a helpful contribution of the Hancock Shakers. Other inventions included a machine for filling seed bags, and one for filling herb packages, the apple paring machine, the common clothes pin, the self-acting cheese press. Did you know the first one-horse wagon used in this country was a Shaker product of Enfield, Conn.? The Shakers not believing in patents or monopolies of any type were, however, forced because of lawsuits from unscrupulous money grabbers, to patent a few items such as the Revolving oven, which may still be seen in the Canterbury Bakery, and the far-famed Wash Mill, which won a gold medal at the Philadelphia exposition in 1876.
The list of inventions and devices of Shaker ingenuity if extended into detail would seem almost endless. Briefly, I would like to tell you of some important inventions showing their relation to our lives today. Brother Thomas Corbett of Canterbury built a static electric machine in 1810. It consisted of a glass cylinder, revolving against a chamois pad producing frictional electricity. This charge was drawn off into a Leyden jar. It was the first therapeutic electric machine. It is hard to imagine a shop today without a circular saw. Sister Sarah Babbitt of Harvard while watching some of the brothers saw, remarked on the amount of lost motion, the idea of a circular saw came to her. She experimented with a notched disk of tin, slipped it on to her spinning wheel, and finding it adequate to saw a shingle, reported her findings. The first one piece circular saw may now be seen in the New York State collection of Shaker Items, Albany, N. Y. The Shakers prowess in research was well recognized by a gentleman who while visiting his children at Mt. Lebanon, heard of a Vacuum Pan being used by the Shakers in their medicinal herb industry. The Vacuum Pan was utilized by the Shakers because when medicine is boiled in a vacuum it boils at lower degree of temperature. Hence, many of the good qualities are not driven off in steam. He asked permission of the Shakers to experiment with the vacuum pan in an attempt to preserve milk. He made a success and a fortune when he invented evaporated milk. His name was Gail Borden. If you should ever go to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, you will see the Vacuum Pan. The Shaker Museum at Old Chatham, N. Y. has on display Gail Borden’s Work Bench.
At its very peak, the Shaker movement numbered only about 6,000 members, at our beautiful village at Canterbury around 400 members which by some worldly standards of measurement would be only a drop in a gigantic ocean of humanity, but we feel that numbers do not count if the motivating principles are right and if each individual gives all that he has, and dedicates his “Hands to work, and his Heart to God”, and if he strives to be his brothers’ keeper. And so, we humbly point to the cemetery of our early Shaker founders who lived not for fame but who were dedicated to the beliefs that when a person loves his God and also his fellow man, the personality of the individual is lost in the Spirit of Christ. And so even if much of Shakerism remains unknown and the physical symbols to some seem to disappear completely, we know that darkness and night may fall, but there is always a tomorrow when the sun will rise again. For we feel thru the revelation of Mother Ann and the teachings of Christ, we have followed a path that is clearly defined leading us to an inner Godliness and a perfect union—a love of God—and a universal love for all mankind.
Some have asked—why did the Shakers invent so much—why did such beauty abound in their work—I can only say—The beauty of the world about us is only according to what we ourselves bring to it. For example: to some, Autumn is a prelude to winter with its cold and loneliness. To others, Autumn represents the magnificence of God’s Great Creation, but for we who follow the path of Godliness, the world takes on a new and more beautiful dimension, and everywhere we find that inner love that brings to our lives the great radiance of God’s great love. With you and only you, lies the choice of selection. To me—I like the words of the poet, who looking on the beauty of Autumn, said, “Dear Lord, when with this life I’m thru and I make my abode with you, Just one thing I would ask of Thee. Will Heaven have Autumn, and crimson trees?”