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Mother Ann Lee arrives in the United states in 1774. Mother Ann Lee was the leader of the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, or Shakers.
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The first colony by the shakers was established in 1776 at Nikayuna near Albany, NY. Their governing principals included celibacy and agrarian communal living.
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The Hancock settlement was founded in 1783, and was active through 1960.
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Mother Ann Lee died September 8, 1784, Watervliet (town), New York at age 48 because she became frail.
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Hancock Village near Pittsfield, MA, became a ghost town in 1960 when the last of its inhabitants moved away. The village stands today as a museum and monument to the simplicity and integrity of the Shaker tradition and its continuing influence on American folk art and aesthetics.