NEW GLOUCESTER (AP) – A land conservation agreement has been completed that will help sustain the world’s last active Shaker community.

The $3.5 million deal will protect the 1,700-acre Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village property from future development, land conservation groups announced Wednesday.

The Shakers will still own and manage the property, but are prohibited from developing the land. Proceeds will help the handful of remaining Shakers repair and maintain properties in the village, many of which need work, said Brother Arnold Hadd, a member of the community.

“That’s the reality, I’m afraid, when you live with buildings that are this old,” Hadd said. “They’re always in need of repair.”

The agreement also will lower property taxes because the land can no longer be developed. The Shakers paid more than $27,000 in property taxes in 2004, but the tax bill fell last year after the first stage of the conservation easement was completed.

A group of conservation and preservation groups launched the fundraising campaign in 2005.

The Land for Maine’s Future Program contributed $805,000, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program awarded a grant of $505,000. The rest of the money, about $2.2 million, was raised privately by the Trust for Public Land, Maine Preservation, the Royal River Conservation Trust and other organizations.

Private fundraising continues for the last $200,000, but the conservation deal is complete.

The Shaker religion is a Christian community whose tenets include celibacy, communal sharing and universal brotherhood.

At one time, there were 18 Shaker communities with about 5,0000 followers in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Georgia and Florida.

The last remaining Shaker community, a quaint, tree-shaded village off Route 26, is a National Historic Landmark, drawing about 10,000 visitors annually. The property includes field, orchards and 5,000 feet of undeveloped shoreline on Sabbathday Lake.

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