The Shaker Perspective

Shaker is extremely popular today many people can recognize the Shaker furniture style. The Shaker forms are purely beautiful the simple lines and clean design have appealed to furniture makers and buyers for centuries. Many modern manufactures reproduce original Shaker pieces and original Shaker works bring a high price tag when they are offered for sale.

Although the Shaker religion has been on the decline they still have one last stronghold in Sabbthday Lake Maine makes the Shakers the longest lasting community in America.

The basic Shaker style of furniture is made from local North American Hardwoods such as Maple, Oak and Beech they never signed their own work so we do not know who build what. They actually spent much effort on developing ways to ease their work load. The Shakers are credited with inventing the first circular saw for woodworking, the flat broom and what some consider the first permanent press cloth.

Unlike the Amish the Shakers embraced some new forms of technology like the automobile they were however committed to living free of vanity, greed and pride. They lived apart from the mainstream America in small self sufficient communities spread around the country from Maine south into Florida and west to Ohio. Their simplistic lives carried over into their furniture designs straight forward and clean.

One of the most recognizable Shaker forms is the Shaker peg rack a simple hardwood rail with a simple contoured wooden peg spaced evenly down the length of the rail. The Shakers not only used these rails for coat racks but also for hanging their kitchen chairs, mirrors, candles and the even manufactured a cabinet that hung from the pegs the beauty of this simple design is that these items could be easily moved from one location to another. Take the peg rail candle holder the candle could easily be carried from room to room and replaced on a sturdy wooden peg this allowed the user to position the candle where it was needed and the candle was securely mounted thus reducing the risk of the candle getting knocked over and causing a fire. The Shakers made many tables and beds with wooden wheels this allowed easy movement for better cleaning or “sweeping up”

In the mid 1800’s the Shakers flourished with there population reaching some 4,000 members during this time many rules to live by were written down in order to detail proper everyday conduct. Everything from the color of their meeting house to the color of their workshop floors was predetermined I imaged in an attempt to limit vanity and pride much like today’s dress codes in modern schools.

Article Source: http://www.religionarticlelibrary.com

Megan Cherry writes for www.pegandrail.com. If you would like a Shaker Peg Rack we offer many to choose from we also have a nice collection of wall Coat Hooks in Brass or Nickel.

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