"Simple Gifts"
photo by Peg Becksvoort
This Rock Maple was planted in 1898 as a memorial tree for Shaker Elder and songwriter, Joseph Brackett (1797-1882), who lived and died at the Sabbathday Lake Village in New Gloucester, Maine. This monumental tree stood in the middle of Shaker Village for 116 years before it had to be removed. The wood from each limb and the trunk was carefully cut and set aside for a few local woodworkers, and I was lucky to be one of them.
Joseph Brackett is best known for his composition of the Shaker dance song, “Simple Gifts”. The song was unknown outside the Shaker community until Aaron Copeland used the melody in his 1944 composition, “Appalachian Spring”. Once discovered, it was picked up by a professional organization of Music Educators, and at one of their conferences, it was described as one of a handful of significant songs that everybody in America should know, including our National Anthem.
‘Tis a gift to be simple, ‘tis a gift to be free,
‘Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in a place just right,
‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gain’d,
To bow and to bend we shan’t be asham’d,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come round right.
I was able to make 6 presses from the beautiful wood that I received from this tree. And the title, “Simple Gifts”, is so fitting for a handmade wooden tool. The Shaker’s passion for beauty and simplicity seems even more important in these times, and I think Joseph Brackett would heartily approve of the wood from his memorial tree being used for an Heirloom Flower Press. To the new owners of these “Simple Gifts” presses: may this tool inspire the essence of simplicity for generations to come.