Museum Cincinnati | Warren County History Center & Glendower Historic Mansion

Shakers

NEW PERMANENT EXHIBIT OF SHAKER-MADE REDWARE
POTTERY FROM UNION VILLAGE, IN THE
ROBERT & VIRGINIA SHAKER GALLERY,
WARREN COUNTY HISTORY CENTER.

This new exhibit was opened to the public on the night of Feb. 11, 2011 at the Warren County History Center. Speakers at the event were Victoria VanHarlingen, Executive Director of the Warren County Historical Society, Dr. Bruce Aument, Chief Archaeologist of the Ohio Department of transportation, Ms. Jessica Thress, Archaeologist-in- Residence at the History Center, and Gregg Shooner, a noted redware potter and pottery historian. The evening turned out to be highly informative and interesting event to the more than 80 attendees.

During 2005, the Ohio Dept of Transportation carried out a needed reconstruction on a portion of Rte. 741, west of Lebanon. The highway crossed through the property of the former Shaker Union Village community. This community endured for over a 100 years and consisted of four Family Settlements (the North, East, South, and West) within the 7 square miles of the community’s farm land.

The reconstruction work was to be done in the area of the North Settlement. Prior to starting that work, ODOT conducted a number of Ground Radar searches over this settlement area. The data derived led to a number of controlled excavations which were found to contain the foundations of a
number of buildings, drainage ditches, and evidence of a pottery kiln. The ODOT cataloged over 90 boxes of pottery artifacts and other materials from these digs. Later the ODOT very generously donated those boxes to the Warren County History Center for further analysis and display and permanent retention.

Pottery Discoveries at Union Village: Unearthing a Shaker Industry

In 2005 excavations began on the area near the entrance of Armco Park that would become a straighter alignment of State Route 741. This is where the structures of the North Family Lot of Union Village once stood. Due to the historical importance of the site an archaeological project was required before road construction destroyed artifacts and data. The excavations conducted only covered the area that would be disturbed by road construction. The archival research and data collected from the dig reflected the North Family Lot and Union Village and its interaction with the world.

Union Village was the only known Shaker community that used a pottery as a means of economic profit. Its pottery shop was located at the North Family Lot. Although there were closer clay deposits, the North Family preferred a particular vein of red clay to use. The clay was rich in iron giving it a reddish hue, thus they made what was commonly called redware.

The earliest mention of pottery production at Union Village was in 1813, with reference to its pipe production. Tobacco smoking pipes, bricks, pottery vessels and hand thrown drain pipe production were referenced in numerous records until around 1848. The last mention of any Union Village pottery was the sale of the machinery and remaining ceramic wares in 1851.

The first major archaeological investigation at Union Village revealed that the Shakers had knowledge of the clay working process and kiln firing. Their ceramic wares were created not only for communal use but also to compete in the world market. Their ceramic industry reflected another skillful accomplishment to be added to the Shaker way and industries at Union Village.

Ms. Jessica Thress,
WCHS Archaeologist-in Residence

For additional information on the archaeological excavations and Shakers of Union Village visit the link for the four volume monograph, Encountering the Shakers of the North Family Lot, Union Village, Ohio.

www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/TransSysDev/Environment/Cultural_Resources/Pages/Shakers.aspx

Shaker Supper and Recipes

Our Shaker Supper was a great success with 50 guests enjoying a delicious meal designed by Chef Ervin Pheil and prepared by Chef George Stengl. So many of our guests requested the recipes from the dinner that we include them here. Check our calendar often for the next Shaker Supper when we will continue the saga of the Shakers with a survey of the rise and fall of our own Union Village.

See the recipes here.

The Shakers (United Society of Believers)

See The Museum Displays Sections for some photograhs of the Shaker collection items.

The Shakers, known as the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, came to America in 1774, guided by their spiritual leader, Mother Ann Lee.

Shakers were among the most successful religious communal societies in the United States. Belief in the equality of men and women, separation of sexes, confession, communal ownership of property and celibacy helped to define their society.

The name, “Shaker” was derived from the shaking and dancing that were central to their worship. Union Village Shakers were successful entrepreneurs selling herbal medicines, garden seeds, brooms, and other implements. They also raised Poland China hogs, Durham cattle and Merino Sheep.

After founding communities in the east, the Shakers moved westward in 1805 to spread their beliefs.

Union Village (1805-1912) in Warren County, Ohio, the first and largest Shaker community west of the Allegheny Mountains, was established in 1805. Nearly 4,000 Shakers lived in Union Village (about three miles west of Lebanon), the last living here until about 1920. This community owned and farmed about 4,500 acres of land with more than 100 buildings. Union Village was parent to other communities in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Georgia. By the 1840s, Union Village had reached a population of 700 believers, making it the second largest Shaker settlement after Mt. Lebanon, New York.

The Shaker religion was at its peak prior to the Civil War but soon after, membership began to dwindle. Smaller communities closed and by 1912 Union Village disbanded, its land being sold to the United Brethren Church

The Robert & Virginia Jones Shaker Gallery offers a glimpse into the lives of Union Village Shakers. This exhibit, located on the third floor expanse, uses the Shaker principle of “borrowed light” in the form of skylights, around which the artifacts are displayed in realistic room settings. An understanding of daily life in Shaker communities unfolds as you view the exhibit.

The museum has combined artifacts on loan from Otterbein and gifts from Robert and Virginia Jones, along with its own acquisitions, to present an excellent storytelling exhibit. This Shaker collection is the finest and most complete of its kind in the Midwest and is displayed with truth and beauty. The Shaker saying, “There is great beauty in harmony,” is very much in evidence her

Many of the tools and implements they used they invented. The Shakers did not patent their inventions, believing making them free to their fellow man and women to be a better goal.

Some Shaker inventions that are on exhibit in the gallery include: