The governor had the kindness to give me some letters for New York, and a letter of introduction to the Shakers of New Lebanon. Furnished with these, we left Saratoga Springs, September 12th, at 9 o’clock, in a convenient stage to go to Albany, thirty-six miles distant. We passed through a disagreeable and sandy country. The uniformity was, however, very pleasingly interrupted by Saratoga lake, which is eight miles long. At Stillwater village, we reached the Hudson. Not far from this, runs the new Champlain Canal, which was commenced at the same time with the Erie Canal, but is not yet completed, and which I mentioned on my passage from Albany to Schenectady. At Stillwater we visited the two battle-grounds, Freeman’s Farm and Bernis’s Heights, which became celebrated September 19th, and October 7th, 1777. These actions, as is known, took place during the expedition of Burgoyne. They closed with taking the whole corps of this general, to which also the Brunswick troops, under General Von Riedesel belonged, at Saratoga.
Our guide to both battle-grounds, which are adjacent, was an octogenarian farmer, called by his neighbours Major Buel, because he had been the guide of the American army during the campaign. The ground has since greatly changed; wood has grown again, so that with the exception of some remains of the English lines, nothing is to be seen. Not far from the river, on an eminence, are the remains of a very small work, called the great English redoubt. Here lies General Fraser, of whose burial Madam Von Riedesel gives a description so attractive, and yet so terrific. I broke off, near his grave, a small branch of a pine tree to present it to Baron Von Riedesel, Land-marshal of the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar. I inquired after the house in which the mother of the latter had lived, and in which General Fraser died. This house stands no longer on the original spot, as the canal passed through its site; in other respects it is said to be arranged now, as it was then. The place in the bar-room, where General Frazer died, and a small room behind this, in which Madam Von Riedesel lived with her children, were shown me.
At the small town of Waterford we passed along the left shore of the Hudson on a long wooden bridge, to avoid a bad bridge over the Mohawk. We proceeded on our route in the night on a very good road, and passed through Lansingburg and Troy. The latter is very handsomely built, and many stores are very well lighted up in the evening. Here we returned to the right shore of the Hudson, and reached Albany at 10 o’clock at night.
On the 13th of September I went with Mr. Tromp in a stage-coach to New Lebanon, twenty-eight miles from Albany to see the settlement of Shakers. We passed through Greenbush, (where the team-boat put us on the left side of the Hudson,) Schodack, Union, Stephentown, and Canaan. The country about New Lebanon is extremely handsome; the tops of the mountains are covered with trees, and the lower parts well cultivated. The valley is wide, with very neat houses, and resembles a garden. Fruit is particularly cultivated. On a slight eminence at the foot of a mountain, the Shaker village is very beautifully situated, and is about one mile long. The houses stand in groups at a distance from each other, in general large, built of wood, and painted yellow; the church alone, or rather the meeting-house, is wide, with an arched roof of slate.
The Shakers are a religious sect, originally from England. It was founded by Ann Lee, the daughter of a Manchester blacksmith, and wife of the blacksmith Stanley, of the same city. Her chief doctrines are, community of goods, a perfect continence with regard to the sexes and adoration of the Deity by dancing. Ann Lee pretended to higher inspiration, performed miracles, announced the speedy reappearance of Christ on earth, spoke of the millennium, and of similar glories. She commenced in England, by making proselytes among the lowest classes, who followed her when she preached in public, held noisy prayer, or rather, dancing meetings, and thus disturbed the public peace. This worthy prophetess was therefore, with her friends, at different times imprisoned; the impatient and unbelieving public even began once to stone her. The good soul, whose convulsions were said by the wicked world to be the effect of ardent spirits, wandered therefore, in 1774, with her family, and several of her friends, to New York, where she settled. But her husband was wearied with the sisterly connexion in which he lived with her, and resolved to divorce his sisterly wife, and marry another. Whereupon the repudiated wife wandered towards Albany, settled first at Watervliet, and held meetings. These meetings, however, appeared to the Americans so suspicious, (it was during the time of the revolution,) that the good lady was arrested at Albany with several of her friends, and transported to the neighbourhood of New York, in order to give her in charge to the English, who then held the city. But she soon returned again to Watervliet, and her faithful adherents bought land near Niskayuna, between Albany and Schenectady, and settled there. A large part of this people, those particularly who had joined the sect in America, founded the colony of New Lebanon. Ann Lee died in Niskayuna, in 1784. As this sect conducted itself very quietly, and gave no public offence, the government allowed them to live in peace. The colony numbers about six hundred members, who are divided into families, some of which contain above one hundred individuals of both sexes. Each lives in a group of houses with an elder at their head. The elders of all the families form a counsel, which watches for the public good. They have for divine service a sort of preachers, two of each sex, who hold forth on Sundays. The greatest cleanliness prevails in the houses, equalled perhaps only by the hospital of Boston; the brethren live on one side, and the sisters on the other. They have a common eating-room, in which again each sex has its own side, but different working places. Both the brethren and the sisters live, generally, two individuals in one room, and two also sleep in the same bed. Many of the sisters, however, notwithstanding their good food, were pale and wan.
When a family wishes to join the Shakers, the relation of brother and sister, must immediately take place between husband and wife. The children are then brought up in Shaker principles. Orphans also find a home with them; still, however, unfavourable reports are circulated about the origin of these orphans. Of course, if the principles of these people should prevail, which, however, may heaven prevent, the world would soon be depopulated. In countries, however, with too great population, it might perhaps be of service to receive missionaries of this sect and promote proselytism.
Every family possesses a shop, where all things made by the family are laid out for sale. These articles generally consist of wooden utensils, sieves, brushes, harness, table-linen, somewhat coarse silver writing pens, very good rose water, &c. Besides, they sell books, exposing the doctrines of their sect, and containing the life of their founder, Ann Lee, whom they call mother Ann. They pay also much attention to the breeding of cattle, make good butter, and particularly good cheese, great quantities of which they sell. Their hogs are remarkably handsome, and cleanliness is also extended to them. It is a rare pleasure to walk about in a Shaker pig-sty! They have a large kitchen garden behind the church, where they raise vegetables, principally for the sake of seed, which is said to be here of a remarkably good kind. Medicinal herbs, roots, and berries, which they cultivate very carefully in a separate garden, and which, as I heard in Albany, are of a remarkably good quality, form a principal part of their commerce.
The governor’s letter every where procured me a good reception, as they generally lead strangers about the settlement with reluctance. The few men with whom I spoke, and who accompanied me, were elderly people, and had long ago become Shakers with their parents. An old man told me, that he had been one of the first adherents of mother Ann at her arrival in America. They were very polite to me, and appear to be somewhat monkish. They showed me also their church, which they do not generally do, Sundays excepted, as every body can attend their worship. My travelling plan did not allow me to pass a Sunday with them. The hall, which serves as their church, is about eighty feet long, and above fifty broad. On one side stand benches in form of an amphitheatre, for spectators and old members, to whom the dancing has become difficult. The floor consists of handsome cedar wood, which is well polished; the boards are attached