Growing up Shaker

by Frances A. Carr

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction

131 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

At the age of ten, Frances Carr (born Evangeline Annie Carr) and her younger sister were sent by their mother who was too ill to care for them to live at Sabbath Day Lake Shaker village in rural Maine, joining three older siblings who were already there. Sister Frances was the only one of the five who stayed on after she grew up. Membership in the Shaker Community dwindled continuously over the course of her life, and at her death at age 89, she was one of three remaining church family members. In addition to authoring a Shaker cookbook and a memoir about her childhood, Carr was credited in her New York Times obituary with being a driving force behind the restoration of Sabbath Day Lake's commercial herb garden and livestock farm.

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

My four stars are more because the subject interested me than because of the quality of the writing. There's much that's wonderful here, but I would have liked more introspection.

[Penelope Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard to put down when I started it. An interesting peek into a group of people I knew very little about.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet, lovely portrait of a childhood in a unique community in the 30s and 40s.

[Mark Curry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short book on the life story of a Shaker, Sister Francis of the Sabbathday Lake, Maine community. This is the home of the few remaining Shakers. Less about the religious concept of Shakerism than about Francis’ life in the community. Meaningful to me after having attended high school at The Darrow School founded in the North Family of the New Lebanon, NY great Shaker community. Many of the aspects of life at Darrow followed Shaker practice, such as “Hands to Work, Hearts to God”, a weekly program of DIY around the school cutting firewood, tending sheep, and making maple syrup, to name a few. The experience has impacted my life to this day some 55 years hence!

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the honor and pleasure of knowing Sister Frances Carr during the last years of her life, through my work at Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village. This book is a wonderful personal narrative for anyone interested in what life for a youth was like at the community in the early twentieth century.

[AlegnaB † · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.0

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short autobiography written by a woman who came to live with the Shaker's in the late 1930's as a child because her mother could no longer care for her. When she was older she decided to officially become a shaker and eventually became head of the Shaker community in Sabbathday Lake where she was raised. The book was written in 1995.

I was hoping for some insight into their religious beliefs, but there was barely a hint of that. This book is mainly about the author's life in the Children's House, the friends she made, going to school and the work that she was involved in. She also wrote a chapter on how WWII affected their community.

I've read a little about how their religion came to be in 1794 and what their early way of life (before the Civil War) was like. By the 1930's their standard of dress had changed as well as how strict they were in certain aspects of their lives. They were never against technology; they always sought new ways to improve their daily work and were allowed to watch movies, read, take pictures, use the telephone, etc.

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a thrill to me to visit the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Community while at a Delta Kappa Gamma Regional Convention held in Portland Maine in July 2012. It was a dream come true. In high school, I developed an interest in utopian communities which has never faded. I grew up in North Adams, not far from the Shakers' City of Peace, now known as Hancock Shaker Village. The Shakers remain close to my heart.

Naturally, my visit to Sabbathday Lake include a stop at the village shop, where I purchased more than one book, feeling virtuous because I wanted them all! This book gave my understanding of the Shaker life a new depth. The Shakers became real people for me. Furthermore, the recollection was a joy to read, full of interesting facts and details. The overall tone, I'd have to say was JOY.

[Meghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book up while visiting the Sabbathday Lake village last summer. It was a very enjoyable and quick read.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learning the history of the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in preparation of being a tour guide this year.