Publications
Beech Hill: The Reconciliation of Hervey Elkins and the Enfield Shakers
By Galen Beale
January 1, 2021
Tags Shaker Studies
Beech Hill traces the Elkins family's forty year Shaker journey using newly discovered journals and letters. Apostate Hervey Elkins is best known for publishing Fifteen Years in the Senior Order of Shakers, an insider's account of life at Enfield, New Hampshire. Although relations between the Shakers and apostates were often quite contentious, the Elkins family papers reflect a different reality. Out of sixteen members of the Elkins family who joined the Shakers eleven apostatized, while five died in the faith. Beech Hill examines the enduring bond between the Elkinses and the Shakers- within the community, and beyond Enfield’s boundaries- recounting the Shakers’ continued relationships with apostate Elkinses, welcoming their visits, lodging with them while traveling, and writing letters providing support and advice. Combining the official Shaker record with intimate details of one family’s interactions with the Shakers affords a more positive view of relations between Shakers and apostates.
