TAYLOR: Well, fine, if you feel like that, maybe I will just stop showing up altogether. Maybe I’ll convert to something else and give them my generous weekly donation …
REVEREND SKINNER : Maybe the Shakers in Woodbury would take him.
RABBI BARANS: Yeah, he’s already got the beard. Can you make furniture, Taylor?
The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, more commonly known as the Shakers, are a Christian founded in England in the 1740s. They emigrated from England in the 1770s and settled in Revolutionary colonial America. They were initially known as “Shaking Quakers” because of their ecstatic behaviour during worship services.
They practice a celibate and communal utopian lifestyle, pacifism, charismatic worship, and their model of equality of the sexes. They are also known for their simple living, architecture, technological innovation, music, and furniture.
In real life, there are only two Shakers left in the US, Arnold Hadd and June Carpenter, who live in the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Community in Maine [pictured]. The idea of them living in nearby Woodbury is purely fictional. Of course, the reverend and the rabbi may just be teasing Taylor.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 