Shakers and Wabanaki, a shared Lakes Region history continues
Passamaquoddy artist Eric Otter Bacon sold his wares at the 2026 Wabanaki Summer Market. (Rory Sweeting/Staff Writer)
Ahead of Saturday’s Wabanaki Summer Market at Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village, museum Director Michal Graham spoke about the long history between two of Maine’s oldest cultural and crafting traditions.
The Shaker Village in New Gloucester lies in the traditional territory of the Wabanaki Confederacy, which at its height stretched across northern New England and eastern Canada. The Shakers arrived in the late 18th century. Information on the Shakers’ precursors has been carried down not only in written record, but also by the Shakers, who have always been highly appreciative and respectful of Indigenous peoples, said Graham.
Graham also said the Shakers’ lauded herbal industry, which will be the focus of Sabbathday Lake’s long-gestating herb house museum project, originated in the tradition of Indigenous peoples, who understood plants that grew in the wild had benefits and values in treating illnesses and medical conditions. Other Shaker traditions believed to have been learned include woven basketry, which the Shakers have traditionally used for utilitarian purposes and as sales products.
A pamphlet on the history of Shaker-Wabanaki relations discusses the Maine Shakers’ use of workbaskets made by Indigenous artists. These include a lidded storage trunk, attributed to the Penobscot nation, with alternating brown- and floral-colored splints, as well as a laundry basket decorated with hand-painted designs of pine trees and bull’s-eyes.
“These baskets,” the pamphlet notes, “lend evidence that the Shakers considered these baskets to be equally attractive as they are useful.”
Graham also described the mingling of Shaker and Wabanaki artisans selling goods and wares in resort towns such as Bar Harbor, Boothbay Harbor and Kennebunkport.
Graham said the relationship between the two cultures today comes in the form of mutual and parallel paths of cultural preservation. The Shakers, he said, admire the production of Wabanaki crafts as a reflection of the Wabanaki people and culture, and the Wabanaki Summer Market, which has been running since 2008, is a way of supporting the continuation of those traditions.
The market, which took place on Saturday, Aug. 22, featured multiple generations of Wabanaki artists, with some families having their fourth generation of artists in attendance, and shared both traditional and contemporary expressions of Wabanaki art.
One artist who incorporates modern designs into his work is Eric Otter Bacon, a Passamaquoddy artist who specializes in traditional baskets and birch bark canoes. Bacon said he started doing design work at a young age, with a lot of his artwork incorporating designs from other Indigenous cultures, particularly canoe-using cultures such as the peoples of the Pacific Northwest. This blend of cultures is also reflected in his traditional Passamaquoddy crafts, which he described as being made in a “contemporary style with traditional methods.”
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Tagged: sabbathday lake shaker village, wabanaki nations
Rory, an experienced reporter from western Massachusetts, joined the Maine Trust for Local News in October 2024. He is a community reporter for Windham, Raymond, Casco, Bridgton, Naples, Standish, Gray,. More by Rory Sweeting
