Shaker Settlement (2018)

Summer 2018:  Darrow School Shaker Settlement, Mount Lebanon, New York

A project is in planning for summer 2018 at the site of the largest Shaker settlement in the United States, established in 1787.  Our excavation at Mount Lebanon is supported by a grant from the National Geographic Society.

The Shakers are one of the most intriguing social and religious movements in American history.  Established in the 1700s near Liverpool, England, the group set sail for America soon after forming to escape persecution for their ‘heretical and dangerous’ beliefs.

Led by the charismatic Ann Lee, the Shakers established a community at Mount Lebanon as the spiritual centre of Shaker society; a society who from the very beginning believed in racial equality, female leadership and technological innovation.

Mount Lebanon is now home to Darrow School, an independent college preparatory school, who have been the conscientious caretakers of the many Shaker buildings, artefacts and landscape features that still exist on their campus.

Darrow School has now embarked on a mission to dig even deeper into its unique history, and to create new educational opportunities for Darrow students, Shaker scholars and history-lovers all over the world.

This excavation is in partnership with: DigVentures

Related Press:

  • National Geographic Society Board of Trustees Endorses More Than $3 Million in Latest Round of Grant Funding, National Geographic Society, April 5th 2018
  • New Archaeology Dig In America Will Help Veterans Transition Into Civilian Life – With Support From Nat Geo!, Dig Ventures, February 16th 2018
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