No Foolish Play: Celebrating New Hampshire's Shakers

In 1774 a band of eight religious refugees arrived in New York from Manchester, England. Their leader, Mother Ann Lee, preached a radical new religion, derisively called “Shakerism.” Over the next 20 years converts to this new faith stablished 19 Shaker communities in the East and Midwest, including two vibrant Shaker villages at Canterbury and Enfield, New Hampshire. Known for their simple yet elegant style of living, the Shakers also made racial and gender equality, stewardship of resources, honesty in business, celibacy, and pacifism hallmarks of their communal life. “No Foolish Play”: Celebrating New Hampshire’s Shakers commemorates the 250th anniversary of the Shakers’ arrival in America and explores the sect’s legacy with a talk by Shaker scholar and musician Mary Ann Haagen, with a performance of Shaker music by the Canterbury Singers under the direction of Kathryn Lundahl. Admission is free. No registration required. Held in the Chosen Vale Performance Center (behind the Stone Laundry/Dairy Building at the former La Salette Shrine.)