History & Culture · Capital Region
Colonie's Story Sits Around Shaker Fields
Colonie's Shaker Heritage area ties the town to Watervliet Shaker buildings, Ann Lee Pond, and preserved open land.
Published July 5, 2026 · Last verified July 5, 2026
Colonie has a clear Shaker story hiding in plain sight. The Shakers established Watervliet in Albany County in 1776. Shaker Heritage Society says the Church Family site sits inside a 770-acre historic district.
It includes remaining Shaker buildings, an herb garden, fields, an apple orchard, Ann Lee Pond, and the Shaker cemetery. The result is local character rooted in plain buildings, communal work, open land, and a religious landscape that can still be read.
That landscape gives Colonie a quieter story than airport roads or suburban shopping. Fields, old buildings, cemetery ground, and Ann Lee Pond keep the Watervliet Shaker world visible inside the modern town.
The best part is that the Shaker landscape has not been reduced to a single building. The herb garden, orchard, pond, cemetery, and fields all help explain a community built around work, worship, and plain design.
That gives Colonie a calm local counterweight. The town may feel busy in many places, but this historic district keeps an older Albany County landscape readable.
Ann Lee Pond is a small but useful anchor, because it gives the open land a name people can remember.