To the Editor:
When does a church become closed, or become a museum? When does a religion die out? What if your denomination became little more than a historical footnote?

The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing were way ahead of their time: They were millennials who awaited and expected an imminent apocalypse; they strove for an egalitarian social structure embracing all races; their men and women shared equally in the tasks of ministry at every level; they held a pacifist stance on war and conflict; and they practiced a communal, agrarian, and sustainable lifestyle — and yet they disappeared into thin air. Almost.

There are still three members of this religion left!

The Shakers of Albany’s Shaker community, the “Shaking Quakers” that gave Shaker Road its name, is the subject of a presentation to be given for the Guilderland Historical Society by Lorraine Weiss, education coordinator of the Shaker Heritage Society, free and open to the public: Thursday, Oct. 20, at 7:30 p.m. at the Mynderse-Frederick House, 451 Route 146, in Guilderland Center.

All are welcome for some deep historical reflection, cookies, coffee, and conversation!

Tom Capuano

Vice President

Guilderland

Historical Society