Tour of the Shakers Spiritual Landscape
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About
A surprising, mind-bending driving tour of local sites considered sacred by the Shakers. The tour is led by Prof. Doug Winiarski (Professor of Religious Studies, University of Richmond) and Theresa Frey-Alexander (Curator of Education and Interpretation, Shaker Heritage Society).
Join them on a tour of the “Spiritual City of Wisdom’s Valley,” an ancient spirit metropolis located on the Watervliet Shaker Village. In 1842 Shaker instruments saw Wisdom’s Valley as an invisible walled city enclosing mammoth spirit trees, glistening spiritual fountains, soaring apartment buildings, and luxuriant gardens and vineyards.
Full of surprising revelations of Shaker beliefs and theology, the tour will traverse a long-forgotten spiritual landscape that now sprawls across familiar locations, including:
- Albany International Airport
- Memory Gardens Cemetery
- Shaker Ridge Country Club
The tour will begin at Shaker Heritage Society and proceed as a caravan to various sites where we’ll congregate to listen to stories of Shaker spiritual life during the famed Era of Manifestations (1837–1850s). Carpooling encouraged!
Winiarski is the editor of Shakers at the Center: Manifesting Spirits & Spectacles in Nineteenth-Century America (University of Massachusetts Press, 2026).
Tickets available on Eventbrite.com!