Stairways have played major roles in my Shaker stories. In most of my Shaker books, I’ve let my characters wonder why it’s so important to follow the Shaker rule of always stepping on the first step with one’s right foot. Unity was very important to the Shakers and they believed if each member did such things the same that would make their unity stronger. Therefore they made rules about how to do many common things such as climbing steps with the same foot first or always kneeling with the same knee on the floor first.
A few of my characters stepped with the wrong foot first just to be contrary. I’m not sure what that says about the writer who gave them contrary ways. Perhaps I resisted the Shaker unity myself. I have been accused of stubbornness at times.
The double stairways gave me the opportunity in my stories to point out to what extremes the Shakers would go to keep the men and women apart. Two stairways in the houses. One for the brethren and one for the sisters. The leaders feared an accidental brush against the opposite sex on the stairways might lead to sinful behavior. At least sinful according to the Shakers.
Then there are those beautiful stairs in the Trustee House at the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill near where I live here in Kentucky. The graceful lines of the double stairways as they spiral up three floors is breathtaking and shows how talented the Shakers were in their workmanship. Since I use that village as a model for my fictional Shaker Harmony Hill village, I nearly always let my characters admire those “floating” stairs. In The Seeker those stairs gave me a way to let my two main characters see each other. But first I had my character admire them when she first came into the village. Here are a few paragraphs to show how Charlotte felt upon first seeing the double stairways.
As she followed Sister Altha down the hallway once more they stopped between a matching pair of winding stairs that curled along opposite walls up two floors with little visible means of support. She had never seen anything to compare with them in any manor house. No outward decoration adorned the cherry handrails or steps, but even so the stairs rose upward in such a graceful spiral that surely no eye could gaze upon them without admiring their beauty.
“What lovely stairs,” Charlotte said before she thought better of breaking the silence between her and the stern sister.
Sister Altha looked at the staircases and then back at Charlotte. “Many of the world say the same, but to us their beauty is in their usefulness. That is where true beauty resides.”
Whoever built this stairway had more in mind than utility, Charlotte wanted to insist, but she bit her lip and remained silent.
Then in my most recent Shaker story, The Innocent, these stairs going down to the kitchen play a part in the action toward the end of the story. I won’t tell you how since if you haven’t read the story, that might be a spoiler.
It’s not much of a stretch to think about story writing being like climbing stairs. Each step brings you closer to the end of the story, but each step is important.
I’m going to add a couple of days to my Shaker book giveaway since I’ve been out of town and didn’t get the winners picked. New deadline is midnight EST on October 31, 2018. That’s Halloween. So if you haven’t entered yet or if you want to get an extra entry to have a chance to win your choice of one of my Shaker books, just leave a comment on this post. You do have to be at least eighteen years old to enter.
So, what stories do you have about stairways? Have you lived in houses with stairs?
I used to sit on the stairs in our farmhouse when I was growing up to read since the heat from our woodstove would rise up and warm the stairway. Sometimes I listened to basketball games on my transistor radio. And when you are unhappy or mad, you can make a lot of noise stomping up a wooden stairway.
As always, thanks for reading.
Comments 56
We spent the last two days at the Pleasant Hill village. Our room at the Trustees had a whole curved wall which was outside part of that spiral staircase. Beautiful.
The largest central family house is getting a remodel (including a better heating and cooling system), but our last tour was to that building and the facelift of those stairs was encouraging.
Author
I’ve always thought I should go spend a night at the Shaker village. I hope you enjoyed the visit, Joleen. I’d say that stairway is one of a kind, but there are two of them. 🙂 Beautiful.
Before we were married by husband and I used to sit on the stairwells at college and talk.
Author
That sounds so romantic, Una. I’m sure you had some great talks there.
I’ve almost always lived in a house with stairs. When my sister was 2, my 3 year old brother and 4 year old me were sitting on the bottom step in our basement watching dad do something. It might have been working on an airplane; he built and flew model planes. My sister fell down the steps (there was a turn) and landed on top of us. She broke her collarbone, although mom didn’t realize it right away. It was her right side, and she grew up left-handed. You’d have thought we cushioned her! Thanks for the chance.
Author
Fun story, Kathy. Well, I guess not so fun for your sister. You guys were close together, weren’t you? I’m guessing there was some wailing going on after that fall.
My older brothers used to love to tease me and then count how long it would take me to run up the stairs and slam my bedroom door. They had it down to the second.
Author
Brothers! I never had a brother, Sandi, but my husband did and they were always giving each other trouble if they could. LOL. My sister was good at storming up the steps too, but I don’t know if it was because of anything I did.
I don’t live in a house with stairs, but my parent’s do. I can navigate their steps in the dark. I know exactly how many steps there are and how far apart they are.
Author
Well, be careful you don’t miscount, April. I’m up and down my basement stairs all the time since that’s where my washer is. My husband thinks I’m going to fall all the time, but so far I’ve managed to navigate the steps okay. Like you.