Shaken

They lived communally as a family... Calling each other brother and sister. But there was no blood connection between them, and would never be. They are seemingly anachronistic unrelated celibate converts, devotees of the United Society of Believers, commonly called Shakers because of their worship's ecstatic movement.

In 2006, when Boston Globe reporter Stacey Chase went to visit their last remaining village in New Gloucester, Maine, she found only four of them left. She brought back the story of the Sabbathday Lake community, a national historic landmark... And one of the members as her husband.

Some day soon, the sect will disappear and their heritage of music, art, crafts and simple functional furniture will be all that remains.

Audio: BBC, PRI & WBUR's Here & Now 3/29/10, Host: Robin Young.