Hancock Shaker Village

  

 Hancock Shaker Village was the third of 19 major Shaker communities that flourished in the 1800’s and extended from New England as far west as Indiana and Kentucky.

The Shakers, named for their trembling and whirling during worship, were a religious sect established in England in 1747.

 They lived communally, seeking to create heaven on earth, a goal they pursued by living simply, in a society that treated men and women as equals and practiced pacifism and celibacy.

This was primarily a farming community with a population of around 300 in the 1830’s.

 They added members through adult conversion and became one of the most successful separatist societies in America.

When the 1,200 acre Hancock Village was settled in 1791, it’s inhabitants called it the City of Peace. 

    They were mostly self-sustaining and progressive and functioned as a community.

                           There were separate brethren and sistren shops. 

                These are pictures taken inside of the various brethren shops.

                      Judy taking a look inside the sistren’s dairy and weave loft.

Sistren prepared three meals a day here for around three hundred people.

 Judy testing out a two-roller rolling pin so she could become a Sistren Shaker baker.

  

                                      Here above is a rocking butter turner.
   

                   The basement contained canning and food storage areas.

               Various liquids were stored here, but liquor was not allowed.

  This five-story brick building housed nearly one hundred community members.

These “hospital beds” are adjustable. They could be raised, rolled or rocked. 

                                                               The pharmacy. 

 The eating room, where silence was observed during each meal.

 All in all, I thought I might like working in the woodshop, being fed all my meals, having my bed made and laundry done,  and Judy liked the idea of the weaving loft,  but then, Judy was a little concerned about having to do cooking and washing clothes for 300 people every day.

In keeping with the Shaker value of equality for all in the community, their cemetery features only one stone, as all were buried as one.

These last two photos were taken at the near-by Canterbury Shaker Village.