In wake of ‘devastating’ cuts, volunteers step up to ready Shakers for the season

Volunteer Jackie Pike of Brooksville cleans the second floor of the meeting house during a spring workday Saturday at Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in New Gloucester. Daryn Slover/Portland Press Herald

NEW GLOUCESTER — The soft whisk-whisk of straw brooms brushing across the walls and beams of the meetinghouse filled the room as three volunteers worked quietly. Undeterred by the gloom of a cold, rainy day, they moved reverently around the room, brushing away the dust that settled over winter.