Industries and Inventions of the Shakers: Shaker Music, a Brief History

A religious communal society developed extensive, self-sustaining industries and practical inventions that blended agriculture, domestic craft, and small-scale manufacturing. Their gardens and orchards supplied herbs, botanical extracts and garden seeds; workshops produced hats, leather goods, shoes, wooden householdware, tools, and numerous woven baskets and boxes. Maple products, preserves, cheeses and other foodstuffs were prepared for sale alongside manufactured items. Members devised specialized tools and machines — including penmaking methods, splint- and basket-machinery, and refined joinery for nesting oval boxes — and traded goods between communities and to outside markets.