“Shaker Museum is all about building,” said the Museum’s board president Paul Cassidy at its summer gala at a private estate in Old Chatham, New York. on Saturday, Aug. 21. Yes, the organization — which holds the world’s most comprehensive Shaker collection — is in the process of a multimillion-dollar makeover of a Victorian building at the foot of Main Street in Chatham. When it opens in 2023, it will serve as the Museum’s offices and permanent collection. But there is also other building going on, as the Shaker Museum fosters relationships and community by sharing Shaker values and history. Guests at the gala enjoyed drinks and hors d’oeuvres on the vast property, then gathered under a tent for dinner. The real Shakers may not have dined as glamorously, but they might have been impressed with the continuation of Shaker values by their current proponents.

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