The Shaker Heritage Society

Holiday Market

The Shaker Heritage Society holds a traditional holiday market every year from October to December. The market features local artists from all over eastern New York, and features textiles, soaps, fragrances, pottery, jewelry, woodwork and a lot more. With over 90 different artists, it’s a great way to support the creative community.

The market also supports the Shaker Heritage Society, which is a nonprofit dedicated to preserving and interpreting the history and culture of the Shakers, a religious community known for its craftsmanship and progressive ideals. The 1848 Shaker Meeting House – where the market is held – is one of the most important surviving Shaker structures. Shakers gathered here for services, singing, dancing, and community meetings. The communal lifestyle of the Shakers along with their values of simplicity are evident in the structure, which is functional and beautiful, yet also unassuming.

Shakers were ahead of their time. Their social values, which embraced gender equality, education, and pacifism, were values not yet embraced by broader society when the Shakers were most prolific. They were ingenious artists and builders. Their furniture, tools, and architecture are still admired and emulated. The Shaker style of architecture in fact, remains a hallmark of modern architecture, and is celebrated for its simplicity, functionality, quality and fine craftsmanship.

The Shakers began dwindling in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. In 1947, the last Shaker community in NY closed. Today, the sect is nearly extinct with one community remaining in Maine. According to NPR’s reporting in August of 2025, it is home to only 3 Shakers. At one time, there were thousands.