Mount Lebanon Shaker Society

Membership

In 1787, the Church Family (the First Order plus the Second Order) housed 57 male and 48 female Shakers, for a total of 105. In 1789, the Church Family's two orders housed 117 male and 116 female Shakers, for a total of 233. Numbers fluctuated according to the state of the economy and the vigor of Shaker missionaries; hard times increased membership, but rarely did the numbers reach that high again. The total dropped to 130 in 1806, then gradually rose to 240 in 1843 (111 males and 129 females) in the Church Family.

The Shakers used a controversial practice of adopting children and using them as servants and labor. The 1875 New York State Census lists many children as 'servants'. The 1892 New York State census lists many as 'inmates'

From that point, membership eroded further. In 1879, the Church Family housed only 54 male and 88 female Shakers, for a total of 142. The closing of smaller communities and consolidation into the larger villages postponed dissolution for several decades.

In the 1940s, due to aging members and declining membership, the Shakers sold the site to Darrow School. Throughout the subsequent years, the site has been managed by several different owners. Darrow owns what remains of the Church and Center Families, while Shaker Museum Mount Lebanon manages preservation and operates tours of the North Family; the rest of the buildings of remaining Families are privately owned.

Buildings

Mount Lebanon's main building became a National Historic Landmark in 1965.

Although the first of the Shaker settlements in the U.S. was in the Watervliet Shaker Historic District, Mount Lebanon became the leading Shaker society, and was the first to have a building used exclusively for religious purposes. Benson Lossing documented that meetinghouse and a few other buildings when he visited the Shakers in 1856.

Mount Lebanon is located where Shaker Rd. merges with Darrow Rd. off US 20 in New Lebanon, New York. The North Family buildings are preserved as the Shaker Museum.

Image:Mount Lebanon Shaker Marker 12July2008.jpg|State historical marker in front of Meetinghouse Image:Mount Lebanon Shaker Meetinghouse Alternate 12July2008.jpg|Oblique view of Meetinghouse Image:Mount Lebanon Shaker Main Dwelling Side 12July2008.jpg|Side view of main dwelling

References

References

1. (2007-09-15). "Mount Lebanon Shaker Society". National Park Service.
2. {{NRISref. 2007a
3. Stephen J. Stein, ''The Shaker Experience in America: A History of the United Society of Believers'' (New Haven: Yale, 1992).
4. Glendyne R. Wergland, ''One Shaker Life: Isaac Newton Youngs, 1793-1865'' (Amherst: [[University of Massachusetts Press]], 2006).
5. Stephen J. Paterwic. (11 August 2008). "Historical Dictionary of the Shakers". Scarecrow Press.
6. Gerard C. Wertkin. (2 August 2004). "Encyclopedia of American Folk Art". Routledge.
7. The Church Family scribes Isaac N. Youngs and his successor John M. Brown compiled membership numbers and vital records until 1879, in New Lebanon Names and Ages, Winterthur Museum Library, Andrews Shaker Collection ms. 1078.
8. Richard Greenwood. (December 1975). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: New York NHL Mount Lebanon Shaker Society". National Archives and Records Administration.
9. [[Benson J. Lossing]], "The Shakers," ''Harper’s New Monthly Magazine'' 15, no. 86 (July 1857).