Snow Hill

Denise Seachrist

Description

A fascinating exploration of a now-lost communal society During the first half of the eighteenth century, Pennsylvania became home to a variety of German-speaking sectarians who rebelled against the oppression of European state-church establishments and migrated to the United States to form their own communions. One such group was the Snow Hill Cloister, which was founded in 1762 as an attempt to continue the monastic, communal lifestyle practiced at Georg Conrad Beissel's famed Ephrata Cloister. In an engaging narrative that chronicles with humor and insight her research into this fascinating community of German Seventh-Day Baptists, Denise A. Seachrist tells the story of Snow Hill-its spiritual and work life; its music, writings, architecture, and crafts tradition; and its sad demise in the waning days of the twentieth century. A product of in situ fieldwork that explores the places and personalities behind the founding and prosperity and demise of the cloister, Snow Hill is a long-overdue study of one of America's "experiments" in communal living. It speaks to another time and place and stands as a testament to the idealism of community and the tenaciousness of the human spirit.Those interested in American religious history, communal studies, Pennsylvania German history, and historic preservation will find Snow Hill engrossing and informative."A magnificent achievement. In one volume, Denise Seachrist has managed to provide a comprehensive treatment of the Snow Hill Cloister. Her integration of primary source materials, firsthand investigation of buildings and material culture, and autobiographical narrative of her interaction with contemporary individuals at Snow Hill make for a book that is engaging and enjoyable to read." -Christian Goodwillie, Coeditor of Millennial Praises: A Shaker Hymnal

Sujets

• Histoire
• Local history
• History of the Americas

Informations

• Publié par: The Kent State University Press
• Date de parution: 20 janvier 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781612779959
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 12 Mo

Extrait

Snow Hill

Snow Hill

In the Shadows of the Ephrata Cloister



Denise A. Seachrist

The Kent State University Press kent, ohio

© 2010 by The Kent State University Press, Kent, Ohio 44242 All rights reserved Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2010020018 isbn9781606350652 Manufactured in the United States of America

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Seachrist, Denise A.  Snow hill : in the shadows of the Ephrata Cloister / Denise A. Seachrist.  p. cm.  Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. isbn9781606350652 (hardcover : alk. paper) ∞  1. Snow Hill Cloister. 2. Seventh Day German Baptist Brethren—History. 3. Franklin County (Pa.)—Church history. I. Title. bx7817.p4s43 2010  286'.30974844—dc22 2010020018

British Library CataloginginPublication data are available.

14 13 12 11 10

5 4 3 2 1

For My Mother Eloise Rapp Seachrist

1

2

3

4

Contents

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 Preface and Acknowledgments

“I welcome any effort such as yours” My Introduction to the Nunnery

“A spiritual flock hath need of thee westward” The History and Life of Snow Hill

“We used to delight in singing lower bass, by which  a man can bring out all the talent he can find” Music in the Life of Snow Hill

“The genius of America runs to active doing and not  contemplative introspection” The Demise of Snow Hill

 Epilogue

 Appendix: German SeventhDay Baptist Constitution,  Adopted April 4, 1976

 Notes

 Selected Bibliography

 Index

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Preface and Acknowledgments

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Nestled in the Cumberland Valley along a branch of the historic An tietam River in Pennsylvania’s Franklin County are the remnants of a nineteenthcentury communal society known as Snow Hill. On Route 997, heading north toward the village of Quincy, a road sign placed by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission hints at the significance of this site as an American communal experiment: “snow hill cloister: An offshoot of Ephrata Cloister in Lancaster County deriving its name from the Snowberger family active in its foundation. Composed of widows, widowers, and single persons, with goods held 1 in common, it prospered from 1814 until the Civil War.”  Snow Hill was a nineteenthcentury attempt to continue the com munal lifestyle practiced at the famed Ephrata Cloister, a Protestant communal order established in 1732 by Christian mystic Georg Con rad Beissel (1691–1768). Ephrata was founded in the first h alf of the eighteenth century when the doctrinal turmoil precipitated by pietism and separatism in Europe led to the migration of a great nu mber of Germans to Pennsylvania. Beissel’s Ephrata was one of a variety of reli gious groups that flourished in William Penn’s colony; others included Mennonites, Dunkers, Amish, and Moravians, along with a h ost of unallied separatists who regarded formal creeds with suspicion. Penn deliberately recruited such dissenters as Beissel, and soon the territory was flooded with a variety of Germanspeaking sectarians who had rebelled against the oppression of the state churches of E urope and

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