Original article from Watervliet Shaker Journal Spring 2021, Vol 41, No 1
By Lorraine Weiss
As with all aspects of Shaker life, the Shaker approach to medicine evolved through time in response to external trends and discoveries. Celibacy was an integral element of the Shaker faith from the very beginning, and strict separation of sexes was adopted soon after establishment of the Watervliet settlement. Thus, it may seem surprising that physical touch was actually a powerful tool of healing in the early days of the Watervliet community. Faith healing was the primary form of medicine adopted in the community and persisted well after the death of Ann Lee herself. Glendyne Wergland (2011) has described how Ann Lee used touch to establish “rapport” with potential converts. Some followers even described being overcome by an electric sensation they described as the “power of God” flowing through her touch, binding followers to the faith through a chaste, but powerful physical and spiritual communion. Furthermore, Ann Lee was purported to heal the sick through a laying on of hands (p. 18-19).
Herbal medicine was widely used at the time of the Shakers’ arrival in the 1770s, and the Shakers were soon gathering wild North American plants and cultivating imported European varieties to treat a variety of ailments in the community in the late 18th century. In 1800, the Mt. Lebanon community began to sell surplus herbal supplies to the World. Their business developed into the first herbal medicine industry in the US and is recognized as such by the American Pharmaceutical Association. What began in one community was often expanded to other Shaker centers, and the Watervliet Shakers had begun their own herbal products business by 1827.
For 30 years after the founding of the Watervliet settlement in 1776, medical doctors from “The World” were not permitted entry into Shaker communities at all. Considering the common “heroic” medicine that was popular among nascent American medical profession at the time–regular application of bleeding and toxic “cures” containing mercury and arsenic–it is perhaps no wonder that Shakers often preferred to adhere to faith healing and herbal remedies and trust to their own members to care for the sick. Shaker leaders relaxed this embargo slightly in the 19th century, but the requirements for separation and self-sufficiency continually restricted access to The World’s doctors. The Millennial Laws of 1821, published by Brother Freegift Wells shortly after Mother Lucy Wright’s death, codified this injunction and stated that no Shaker was to seek outside medical treatment except in case of extreme illness or injury and then only with the blessing of their Elders.
It may have been an epidemic that led the Shakers to relent for the first time and permit outside practitioners through the gates. Throughout their history, Shakers were usually spared the worst ravages of infectious disease. This can be attributed to their careful selection of sites that provided fresh, clean running water in all communities, and their legendary cleanliness one hundred years before the acceptance of germ theory. (“There is no dirt in heaven” is a saying attributed to Ann Lee). Diseases like cholera were transmitted through sewage and contaminated water. While common in cities, they were exceptionally rare in Shaker settlements. However, in 1812-1813, a number of “pestilences” ravaged New England. In the face of this disease, which may have been an outbreak of typhus, even Shaker communities were not spared. The Watervliet Church Family Journals, kept by Freegift Wells, note that between January 1 and February 28 in 1813, the New Lebanon community lost 20 Believers. It has been suggested that this frightening outbreak led the leadership at Mount Lebanon to soften their stance on outside medical intervention for the first time (Murray, 294).
While the Shakers eschewed interventions by The World’s doctors, Brethren and Sisters freely experimented with and adopted the latest trends in contemporary medicine within their communities. While rarely formally trained, Shaker physicians and nurses frequently enjoyed access to the latest medical research and discoveries, and Shaker libraries contained copies of the latest medical journals and treatises. In 1824, the Watervliet Church Family Journals note: “David Miller and Eliab Harbour of Lebanon went to NYC to see Dr. Charles Whitman, celebrated Scottish doctor. David got directions for a “vapor bath”, made one at Wvlt and tried it on some of the brethren and sisters.”
Still, many of the “treatments” embraced by the Shakers today would be classified as “alternative medicine.” Thompsonian medicine, for example, was a popular regimen in the 1840’s. This theory of medicine rested on the idea of purging bad “humors” from the body through liberal application of emetics to induce vomiting, hot pepper enemas, and steaming to induce profuse sweating. Fad diets such as Grahamism, which emphasized whole grains and forbade meat and many other animal products were also eagerly embraced by many Shakers, particularly Brother Ephraim Prentiss of Watervliet.
Given the uneasy relationship Shaker communities had with the “professional” medicine of the outside world, it is somewhat ironic that the institutional Ann Lee Home is the most visible symbol of healthcare at the Shaker settlement today. To some, the old nursing home at the Church Family Site is an unattractive vernacular structure that looms uncomfortably over the remaining Shaker buildings. To others, it’s a complex of massive scale, full of fascinating corridors. No matter one’s opinion on the design, it’s a building with a fascinating history and surprising connections to the Shakers who settled the land on which it was built.*
Albany County bought the Church Family property in 1925 and began plans for a new municipal nursing home. Prior to the opening of the Ann Lee Home in 1930, poor elderly residents of Albany, the “insane,” and orphaned children were all housed together in squalid conditions at the County Almshouse. While commonplace today, the concept of a municipally-operated nursing home was novel in the 1920s. The Ann Lee Home was one of several new facilities built in response to a 1927 ordinance passed by the city council to improve the living conditions of these vulnerable populations. The construction project brought intense changes to the property. Twenty Shaker buildings were demolished, reshaping the property to create a more open, park-like atmosphere that visitors recognize today when they visit the Shaker Heritage site.
For a decade prior to the construction of this “Ann Lee Home,” the buildings of the Church Family functioned as a Preventorium. “The Pre,” as it was often called, was a healing space for children and adults who had been exposed to but had not yet developed tuberculosis. In the 1920’s, the Trustees Office and Brethren’s workshop were fitted with grand, two-story screened porches for Pre residents to take in the fresh country air, and the Meeting House was retrofitted into a makeshift cinema for entertainment. Tuberculosis, (aka consumption), had its own persistent and harmful history among the Shakers. In fact, contrary to most other infectious diseases, the “White Plague” may actually have been more common in Shaker communities than the outside world, particularly among the Sisters who lived and worked in close communion indoors (Murray 1994).
In 1929, Sister Lucy Bowers of the South Family notes many visits by children from the Pre in the South Family journals:
13 April – Mary [Dahm] makes candy of various kinds almost every day and sells to the “Pre” boys who bring at least 5 different dogs with them.
22 July Frieda [Sipple] and Lucy [Bowers] go for a walk and are invited to see the children’s gardens at Pre.
23 July Promise my four garden tools to the children at Pre; they come for them Sat. p.m.
The Shaker sisters still living at the South Family property even enjoyed watching a film or two in their former Meeting House at the invitation of residents.
12 Feb. Party of six Sisters go over to the [Church] farm to see moving pictures at 7:15, home at 10:30. Frieda and I walk to the airport. It was very cold, saw the new hanger…[at the Albany County Airport]
One can draw a connecting line between the communalism of the Shakers and the “modern” healthcare afforded at the Preventorium and Ann Lee Home. These institutions were intended to alleviate suffering and reinforce a sense of community responsibility to care for the elderly and sick. One of the great social legacies of the Shakers was their commitment to equality, which encompassed equal access to education, work, food, shelter, and medical treatment for all members. Hundreds of years before the advent of welfare and social services in the United States, the Shakers were offering all the necessities of life to anyone who committed to their lifestyle. While the Ann Lee Home did not correct inequality in the outside world, its mission can perhaps be seen as a fitting tribute to the legacy of the Shakers.
*The Ann Lee Nursing Home was demolished by Albany County the Summer of 2023.
Sources
Millennial Laws or Gospel Statutes and Ordinances adapted to the day of Christ’s Second Appearing. Given and established in the Church for the Protection thereof by Father Joseph Meacham and Mother Lucy Wright, the presiding Ministry, and by their Successors the Ministry and Elders. Recorded at New Lebanon, Aug. 7th 1821. Revised and reestablished by the Ministry and Elders, Oct., 1845. Manuscript. | Murray, J. E. (1994). The White Plague in Utopia: Tuberculosis in Nineteenth-Century Shaker Communes.Bulletin of the History of Medicine 68 (2) p. 278-306 | Sakmyster, T. (2014). Lunacy and Dissent Among the Shakers. American Communal Societies Quarterly 8 (2) p. 67-93 | Watervliet Church Family Journals | Wergland, G. (2011). Sisters in the Faith: Shaker women and the equality of the sexes. University of Massachusetts Press. | Journal of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Albany for 1927
