“Climbing The Holy Hill,” An Experience Blazed By The Shakers, Opens At Hancock Shaker Village
What did it feel like to be a Shaker? Although we can’t know for sure, Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, Massachusetts is making it possible for us to walk in their footsteps. Beginning September 23, the Village’s new exhibition, "Climbing the Holy Hill," invites visitors to follow the path of the Shaker community’s twice-yearly pilgrimage to the peak of Shaker Mountain — what they sometimes called the “Holy Hill” or “Mount Sinai.” It was a sacred and spiritual experience achieved by singing specific songs as they journeyed to the highest point to be closer to God.
"Climbing the Holy Hill" proposes a more contemporary pilgrimage, but one that evokes a similar contemplative crossing. There’s the physical part, the trek up the trail on the north side of the Village. But what about the spiritual — or let’s call it reflective — element of the Holy Hill experience?
Turns out there’s an app for that. Download it at the beginning of the trail and tune into a 45-minute site-specific, wholly original soundscape. Initially, there is music by Our Native Daughters, comprised of banjo players and collaborators Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, Leyla McCalla, and Allison Russell, who together use their music to highlight the experiences of black women in America. One of the tunes, "Pretty Home," is especially meaningful; it was written in 1849 by a former slave turned Shaker.
Climb on, and the Grammy-winning vocal band Roomful of Teeth will accompany you in your engagement with the surroundings and with the Shaker experience. The GPS-specific recording includes "Fountain of the Elements," a new piece by Roomful of Teeth founder and co-artistic director Brad Wells. The sound of voices, both spoken and sung in a combination of song and readings of Shaker diaries and journals, unfolds in site-responsive spots moment by moment (and heard only there) as you ascend Shaker Mountain.
Boys on the Shaker Trail lower dam, 1987
“Brad was really thoughtful about the piece,” says Jennifer Trainer Thompson, HSV executive director. “He planned what you’re going to hear by the sawmill and the dam, and when you cross the stream. He designed the music so there’s total stillness and quiet as you enter into the meadow. It really does feel sacred.”
It’s an orchestrated experience, Trainer Thompson says, and it starts, prior to getting on the trail, at the Village’s Meeting House. There, visitors will find a box constructed by one of the Village’s woodworkers, affixed to a tree. Visitors are encouraged to pick out one of the Shaker “gift drawings” printed on a contemporary letterpress. They're designed by artist Allison Smith, whose work embraces craft culture. The prints include visual and textual transcriptions of visions and messages the Shakers received in their spiritual journeys.
“Allison loved the Shaker gift drawings and proposed doing a modern version,” says Trainer Thompson. “People can take one like they’d take a trail map. But these are really emotional maps— drawings of the artist’s journey through the pandemic.”
A drawer on the box will contain seeds from the Village’s garden, and a little spoon. “Bring some seeds home or cast them along the trail as wishes,” Trainer Thompson suggests.
“Climbing the Holy Hill” was inspired, in part, by the pandemic. With outdoor recreation taking on an outsize importance last year, Hancock Shaker Village had opened a new trail on the north side — the Shaker Trail in what is now Pittsfield State Forest. It’s a two-mile path and is considered a moderate hike.
“Carrie Holland, a member of our board from Mill Town Capital, had made a suggestion about curating an exhibition to go up that trail,” says Trainer Thompson. “It was a challenge.”
But once they really started researching its history, the pieces of the project — and its relevance to our mindset these days —came together. In 1842, the 19 Shaker villages in the United States received an edict: each one must clear a path to the nearest mountaintop and march up the trail each May and September to the highest point — the “Holy Hill.” There were specific songs to be sung along the trail and at the top. The entire village would make the trek, adults walking four abreast; the elderly and children brought by horse and wagon. Until the 1960s, this Shaker ritual had been forgotten, until a hiker came across the relics on the hilltops and began to research their provenance.
“We’ve all become conscious about having rich outdoor experiences,” says Trainer Thompson. “This exhibit feels like just the right kind of thing for our time.”
“Climbing the Holy Hill” runs September 23 to December 1. The opening of the exhibition will be marked by a group hike to the summit, where there will be a brief performance in the meadow on September 23 at 4 p.m.
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