Wednesday, November 10, 2021
Now on our way between Buffalo, NY and Providence, RI, we stopped on either side of the New York-Massachusetts border. First at the
Mount Lebanon Shaker Village in NY: Mount Lebanon was the leading Shaker society in America for 160 years from its founding by James Whitaker in 1787 through its closing in 1947. We explored the area where the North Family lived and worked.
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| Poultry House (1870) |
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| Interior of the Poultry House! |
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Wagon Shed (1853) is notable for the use of hanger rods
that allowed the two floors to be uninterrupted by interior posts |
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| Ground floor of the Wagon Shed |
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For now the Wagon Shed is temporarily
supported during restoration work (KSS) |
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Great Stone Barn (1859-1860, for the dairy operation) is
believed to be the largest stone barn in the United States |
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Interior wooden timbers were destroyed in
a fire in 1972; the barn could be accessed on
three levels due to its position against a hillside |
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| All sizes of stone in a wall (KSS) |
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| Granary (1838) |
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| Sisters Workshop (1843?) |
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| Birdhouse at Sisters Workshop |
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Ludlow Fire Hydrant; after a fire in 1875,
the Shakers installed four hydrants at
North Family, connected by wooden pipes
to a reservoir up on the hillside (KSS) |
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Wash House and Wood House (1854 to store firewood;
1878 conversion of south end to a wash house powered by
a water motor with water from the fire hydrant system);
upper rooms were heated for drying laundry |
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| Second Dwelling (1835) |
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Brick Shop/Brethren Worshop (1829) provided space for the
men's trades, such as woodworking, tailoring, shoe and hat
making, and the seed business; the oldest North Family structure |
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| Shaker Herb Garden |
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| Forge or Blacksmith Shop |
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Forge interior taken through a window (the building
may have last been used as a private home) |
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| Barn door supplanted by French doors |
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| Shaft for a water wheel housed in the cellar of the Brick Shop (KSS) |
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| Dam (KSS) |
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| Deacons Workshop or Hirelings House |
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Half a spruce tree allée; the spruce, including
the lone specimen at the end, are "historic" |
A short distance away is the former location of the Church and Center Families, now part of Darrow School.
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Shaker Second Meeting House (1824)
is now the Darrow School Library |
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Three doors enter the meeting house, the women used the
door on the right, the men on the left, and the
elders used the middle door |
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Tannery (1838) sits next to Tannery Pond; this building
is now the Darrow School Chapel |
Farther along Darrow Road is the location of the former South Family. It is now owned by a Sufi community, the Abode of the Message.
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| The Abode of the Message garden |
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| A Sufi outhouse? |
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| Meditation Hall is a replica Shaker apple barn |
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| "Dig artifacts" found during construction of new walkways |
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| Former South Family dwelling and laundry |
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| Former South Family Workshop and chair factory |
We crossed into Massachusetts to the
Hancock Shaker Village (1790-1960), the third major Shaker community to be established in the United States, after Watervliet, NY (1774) and Mount Lebanon.
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Hancock Shaker Village is now operated by a non-profit, and
is not freely accessible; it was closed due to winter hours (KSS) |
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Hancock Shaker Village is notable for the Round Stone Barn
(1826), which is made up of four concentric rings |
The inner ring provides ventilation to help draw the moisture up and out of the hay which prevents mold from growing and the hay from spontaneously combusting. The next ring holds the hay with an upper level balcony that was accessible by ox-drawn cart. The carts could enter, unload the hay, and circle back out without having to back up. The third ring was where the Shakers took the tossed hay and distributed it to the feed troughs of the cows in the outer ring.
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| Hancock Shaker Village is in the Berkshire Mountains |
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| Shaker chairs (KSS) |
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On the left is the Meeting House (1793 in Shirley, MA and
moved here in 1962), and Ministry House, and on the right
is the Brick Dwelling (1830) to house 100 Shakers |
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Trustees' Office and Store (1813, enlarged 1852,
"Victorianized" in 1895) is where "The World" did
business with the Shakers or purchased souvenirs |
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| Yankee Inn, in Pittsfield, MA, framed poster |
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Yankee Inn was a typical Berkshires lodging...
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| ... but with solar panels, also note the red Adirondack chairs |
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