Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village
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Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village
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Shaker Library and schoolhouse
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| Location | New Gloucester, Maine |
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| Coordinates | 43°59′11″N 70°21′58.6″W / 43.98639°N 70.366278°WCoordinates: 43°59′11″N 70°21′58.6″W / 43.98639°N 70.366278°W |
| Built | 1782, 1783 or 1793 |
| NRHP Reference # | 74000318 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | September 13, 1974 |
| Designated NHLD | May 30, 1974 |
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 only two members as of 2017. 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. 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 and 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 maximum size of about 6,000 full members in 1840.
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