The Shakers

The Shakers are America's longest and most successful experiment in communal living. A century ago, nearly 6000 Shaker brothers and sisters lived together in nineteen communities scattered from Maine to Kentucky. Their meeting houses resounded with devotional songs and ecstatic dancing, and their communal farms and workshops poured out products and inventions that made their name synonymous with quality and ingenuity. This film traces the growth and decline of this religious sect through the memories and songs of surviving Shakers.