Shaker Pottery in Lebanon
By Jud Yalkut
The world’s only collection of Shaker Pottery at the Warren County Historical Museum in February is now part of the museum’s permanent collection. This collection is the only one of its kind because Union Village, the Shaker community in Turtlecreek Township, is believed to have been the only Shaker community to have produced pottery. The Shakers, being a self-reliant religious sect who pledged themselves to celibacy, lived and worked on a 4,500 acre community that operated between 1805 and 1916 on the site of the present Otterbein Retirement Center in Lebanon. The shards and fragments have been painstakingly assembled by Jessica Thress, the museum’s archeologist, from an archeological dig to preserve whatever remained of the large Shaker village. The Warren County History Center and its large collection and historical room reconstructions is located at 105 S. Broadway in Lebanon. Hours are from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and noon – 4 p.m. on Sunday with an admission charged. (513) 932-1817.
