Whittemore Tavern and the Shakers
About the year 1784. a number of New Ipswich citizens gave credence to the divine mission of Mother Ann Lee the leader of the sect of Shakers . The leading man among the followers was Amos Whittemore who lived at the foot of Whittemore Hill. At his house their meetings were held . They would assemble forty or fifty from New Ipswich and neighboring towns. As described in the Augustus Addison Gould History of New Ipswich their religious services must have interesting: "Their exercises consisted of furious and long-continued whirling and dancing, exceeding in this respect anything in the annals of savage war-dances; they were performed with half naked bodies, and attended with singing, shouting and shrieking which could be heard for miles; and in short they resembled drunken bacchanals or raving wild beasts rather than rational beings." (Page 190) After a year or two the Shakers moved to Harvard. Amos remained with them for a while but eventuall...