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Mother Ann Lee is one of the most consequential (and least understood) figures in early American religious history.

In just ten years in the colonies, during the chaos of the American Revolution, she helped give rise to a movement that would shape communal life, labor, design, music, and belief across America (and even Europe) for generations.

This episode of The Jiffy traces Ann Lee's life from industrial Manchester to upstate New York, from persecution and imprisonment to the founding of the Shakers' first American settlement near Albany and across New England.

With guidance from Kathleen Lynch, curator and director of collections at Hancock Shaker Village, we examine what can be known about Mother Ann, and what survives only as testimony, memory, myth, and legend.

As renewed attention turns toward Ann's life, this episode offers the long view that intends to place her where she belongs: not as an abstraction or aesthetic, but as a human being whose convictions helped shape a country still defining itself.

By the way, Kathleen took me on a tour of the 1830 Brick Dwelling in 2024 for my series, "This Old Vibe," and showed me the Shaker concept of borrowed light. You can watch that video here.

You can visit Hancock Shaker Village at: https://hancockshakervillage.org

Here's more info on "Ann the Word: the Story of Ann Lee, Female Messiah, Mother of the Shakers, the Woman Clothed with the Sun," by Richard Francis

This is part of my series throughout 2026 looking at how New York looks at itself during the Semiquincentennial: The Jiffty250.

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"The Jiffy Audio Newsletter Podcast" is an audio documentary zine – the official podcast of The Jiffy – exploring the odd histories, cozy mysteries, and surprising characters of upstate New York. Each episode is an adventure, and new episodes drop every other week.

Subscribe, share, and take the scenic route with us.

Follow James on Instagram: @jamescave

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In the first episode of the New Year, we get as close to the concept of time as possible: by climbing into Chatham’s 1872 clock tower with village timekeeper Stephen Piazza.

Here are some things we learned:

• It's very steep to the top and hard to do with a microphone and really large headphones.
• Don't touch the pendulum.
• Why heat and cold change a pendulum’s pace
• How gravity pulls on the gear train differently from 12 to 6
• And why a tiny turn smaller than a 64th of an inch can mean minutes gained or lost.
• We talk through the choreography of daylight saving, from stopping the clock to avoid “fall back” confusion to advancing the hands ever so gently in spring so the village sees the new time without phantom bells throwing everything into disarray.
• We also made it into the Village Timekeeper's Logbook for all of time to see!

Here's more on "Selling the True Time," by Ian R. Bartky

Here's more on the Chatham Clock Tower from the Chatham Village Historical Society

Here's my previous "Guide To The Many Chathams" episode

Support the show

"The Jiffy Audio Newsletter Podcast" is an audio documentary zine – the official podcast of The Jiffy – exploring the odd histories, cozy mysteries, and surprising characters of upstate New York. Each episode is an adventure, and new episodes drop every other week.

Subscribe, share, and take the scenic route with us.

Follow James on Instagram: @jamescave

Subscribe to the newsletter here.

Send us a text

Dylan Tupper Rupert joins the show today in my first-ever feed drop to take us on a ride-along with her podcast "Music Person!"

It's the first part in a three-part series for her show, dedicated to mapping out how the Hudson Valley’s history, density, and seasons shape a vibrant indie music scene today. In part 1, which we feature here, Dylan visits Hannah Cohen, Sam Evian, Flying Cloud Studios, and Big Pink (and Jenn Pelly and Olivia Bee make some cameos).

Go check out Dylan's full series here: https://www.talkhouse.com/artist/music-person

Listen ad-free and support her show here: https://www.patreon.com/cw/musicperson

And follow Dylan on Instagram here! @yaydylan

Support the show

"The Jiffy Audio Newsletter Podcast" is an audio documentary zine – the official podcast of The Jiffy – exploring the odd histories, cozy mysteries, and surprising characters of upstate New York. Each episode is an adventure, and new episodes drop every other week.

Subscribe, share, and take the scenic route with us.

Follow James on Instagram: @jamescave

Subscribe to the newsletter here.