Meeting House (1848)

Meeting House (1848). . Shakers embraced song and dance as forms of spiritual expression. On Sundays they gathered here at the Meeting House to sing, dance, and pray for hours at a time. To build goodwill and attract new Believers, visitors from the "World" were invited in to observe services. One Sabbath Day in August 1849, Rufus Bishop noted "Many spectators - they filled all the stationary seats and several others." , All began at Watervliet in 1837 as a series of "visitations" which quickly spread to other Shaker communities. Affected worshippers fell into a trance and "channeled" the spirits of ancestors and Shakers. After such visitations, many Sisters would create Gift of Spirit Drawings, illustrating the spiritual messages they had received. A number of new songs, poems, and other writings were also created during this period. Shaker communities were given spiritual names and Watervliet was known as "Wisdom's Valley.", This "Era of Manifestations" was a part of the larger "Awakening" that swept across the United States. This radical time fueled the growth of evangelical religious movements, as well as the emergent women's rights movement. It could be said that the rest of the United States was starting to catch up with the radical Shakers., The growth of the Shaker community and the growing number of World visitors prompted the Shakers to build a larger Meeting House in 1848. The 1791 Meeting House (left) was located just to the north until it was demolished in 1929. Both Meeting Houses included residential spaces on the upper levels. The 1848 Meeting House may have also had some workshop spaces.