1798 Initial Settlement
The Shakers settled outside Albany in 1776 on a site that is now part of the Albany International Airport. The group moved to the Church Family site in 1777. At first, a single log cabin served as their communal dwelling. In 1796, Morrell Baker from New Lebanon visited Watervliet and later made a list of the buildings, including the Meeting House, the Long Shop, the old Office, the South Barn, and a nearby Tan House.
1838 Buckingham Map
David A. Buckingham created an inventory and map of the Church Family structures in 1838. Named "A Delineation or View of the Village called the Church Family", the drawing portrays landscape features, pathways, and around 56 buildings from shops and dwelling houses to minor structures. The details include the foundations, picket fences, apple trees, and even small features such as a lightning rod in the Main Dwelling House. The map served as the key resource for the digital models of the demolished buildings for Virtual Watervliet.
1925 Albany County
In 1925, Albany County had the Church Family surveyed during the assessment for purchase of the property. The resultant documentation includes a plot plan showing the relative locations of the buildings that existed at the time of purchase and their schematic plans with dimensions. This provides an overview of the structures that were being used by the Shakers when they left the area after the property was sold to Thomas Birgam and later to the county.
2012 Historic District
The Shaker presence in the Albany area ended in 1936 after the South Family closed. From the many surviving structures at the time of the sale in 1925, only nine Shaker buildings remain at the Church Family site along with the ruins of the Grist Mill. The Shaker Heritage Society, founded in 1977, currently maintains the grounds and undertakes building stabilization projects to preserve the Shaker structures for the next generation.