NEW GLOUCESTER — A three-day conference open to the public will be held at the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in July.
Leonard Brooks, director of the Shaker Museum and Library, said it would be the first conference to deal extensively with Shaker architecture and the Shakers’ relationship to the natural world.
“We will Sustain the Structure: The Built and Natural Environments of the Shakers” will be held from Friday, July 15, through Sunday, July 17. Advance reservations by June 30 are required.
“Both themes are new and combining them is new, as well,” Brooks said. “The conference was designed to be a complement to the architectural exhibit heralding Shaker land, from 1793 to 1810, also known as Chosen Land by the Shakers.
The conference will show how this organic process has been in motion since the establishment of the Shaker Church in America and how it led to the large Shaker influence on the world.
The Shaker Society, the Shaker Museum and Library and Maine Preservation will sponsor the event.
Participants on Friday can choose either a walk to the Shaker Mill sites and a tour, a Shaker Village nature hike or the Shaker Village wagon.
On Saturday, July 16, Donald Perkins, a Portland Press Herald columnist, author and barn researcher, will talk about “Our Barns: A History of the Barns of Maine.”
And William Foley of the University of Maine at Augusta will speak about “Shaker Architecture as a Vernacular Base of Contemporary New England Design.” The event includes a Shaker village barn tour.
Speakers throughout the weekend include members of the Sabbathday Lake Shaker community.
Sister June Carpenter will profile “Sister Ada Cummings: Nature in the Life of a Shaker Sister.”
And Sister Frances Carr’s theme is “Sing Unto the Lord a New Song” about nature from the Shaker heritage.
Brother Arnold Hadd will talk about “Build Me a House Saith the Lord: The Demographics of Architecture.”
A talk by architect Carol F. Gillis of Design Group Collaborative is titled “Simple Beauty — Shaker Architecture and Contemporary Design.”
Other speakers include Adam Krakowski of MS Historic Preservation University of Vermont, who will talk about “Stillness at Last: Preservation of the Built Environment of Sabbathday Lake.”
Marcus R. Letourneau, a heritage planner for the city of Kingston, Ontario, Canada, profiles “A House Founded on a Rock: Building Mt. Lebanon.”
Carl Benton Straub, professor emeritus at Bates College, is the author of “An Honorable Harvest, Shakers and the Natural World.” He will speak about “ The Shakers and the Landscape of Stewardship.”
Other speakers include Lauren A. Stiles, faculty emeritus of State University of New York at Cortland to address “Shaker Great Barns.”
The conference registration fee for the general public is $150; $125 for members of the Friends of the Shakers and Maine Preservation. Conference registration fee includes all speakers, special programs, special activities and five meals, two lunches, two suppers and a Sunday brunch.
For more information, contact the United Society of Shakers at 926-4597 or email usshakers@aol.com.
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