Hancock Shaker Village
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Hancock Shaker Village is a former Shaker commune in Hancock and Pittsfield,
Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
. It emerged in the towns of Hancock, Pittsfield, and
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in the 1780s, organized in 1790, and was active until 1960. It was the third of nineteen major Shaker villages established between 1774 and 1836 in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
,
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,
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,
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
and
Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...
. From 1790 until 1893, Hancock was the seat of the Hancock Bishopric, which oversaw two additional Shaker communes in
Tyringham Tyringham (/ˈtiːrɪŋəm/) is a village in the unitary authority area of the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. It is located about a mile and a half north of Newport Pagnell. The village name is an Old English language word, an ...
, Massachusetts, and
Enfield, Connecticut Enfield is a New England town, town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, first settled by John and Robert Pease of Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, Capitol Planning Region. ...
. The village was closed by the Shakers in 1960, and sold to a local group who formed an independent non-profit. This organization now operates the property as an
open-air museum An open-air museum is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts outdoors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum. Definition Open air is "the unconfined atmosphere ... outside buildings" ...
. It was added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
and declared a
National Historic Landmark District A National Historic Landmark District (NHLD) is a geographical area that has received recognition from the United States Government that the buildings, landscapes, cultural features and archaeological resources within it are of the highest signific ...
in 1968.


Organization and governance

At its peak in population in the 1830s and 1840s, Hancock consisted of six communal orders, known as "families": The Church Family, Second Family, East Family, West Family, South Family, and North Family. Overseeing each family was two men and two women, known as elders and eldresses. Overseeing the entire collective of Hancock families were two elders and two eldresses who served as the Ministry of the Hancock Bishopric. This ministry also oversaw the
Tyringham, Massachusetts Tyringham is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 427 at the 2020 census. History Founded as Housatonic Township Number 1, th ...
and
Enfield, Connecticut Enfield is a New England town, town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, first settled by John and Robert Pease of Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, Capitol Planning Region. ...
Shaker communities. The Hancock Bishopric in turn was overseen by the Ministry in the New Lebanon commune one town over, on the New York side of the state border. The various industries and tasks within each family at Hancock were managed by deacons and deaconesses, with the deacons of finance and legal affairs later becoming known as Trustees. In 1893, the Hancock Ministry was dissolved and the remaining members of the Hancock and Enfield villages overseen directly by the Ministry of Mount Lebanon, which was now called the Central Ministry.


History


Background

The Shaker religion began in
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
, England around the year 1747. A group of dissident Christians, they practiced ecstatic worship and
egalitarianism Egalitarianism (; also equalitarianism) is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds on the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all hum ...
. A young woman named
Ann Lee Ann Lee (29 February 1736 – 8 September 1784), commonly known as Mother Ann Lee, was the founding leader of the Shakers, later changed to United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing following her death. She was born during ...
gradually emerged as the primary leader of the group. In 1770, she experience visions and revelations taught her that only by renouncing sexual relations could humankind ever achieve entrance into heaven. After enduring persecution in England, the small group of Shakers, led by Lee, set sail for the New York colony in 1774. By 1776, they settled within
Watervliet, New York Watervliet ( or ) is a City (New York), city in northeastern Albany County, New York, United States. The population was 10,375 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Watervliet is north of Albany, New York, Albany, the capital city, ...
, establishing what became Watervliet Shaker Village. In the winter of 1779–1780, a brief religious revival swept through
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and
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
congregations in
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and
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. After the revival dissipated in the summer of 1780, many ministers and congregants from these churches investigated the Shakers and began converting. Invigorated by this influx of new converts, the Shakers expanded through missionary trips from 1780 through 1784 throughout the
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. Ann and William Lee died in 1784, and their friend and co-minister James Whittaker died in 1787. The movement was then re-organized and institutionalized by the American converts Joseph Meacham and
Lucy Wright Lucy Wright (February 5, 1760 – February 7, 1821) was the leader of the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, also known as the Shakers, from 1796 until 1821. At that time, a woman's leadership of a religious sect was a rad ...
. Shaker converts were gathered into communal villages, where all property was jointly owned.


Formation of the Hancock community

After the conversion of the prominent local ministers Joseph Meacham and Calvin Harlow from
Canaan CanaanThe current scholarly edition of the Septuagint, Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interprets. 2. ed. / recogn. et emendavit Robert Hanhart. Stuttgart : D ...
and New Lebanon, New York, and then subsequently Valentine Rathbun and much of his family from West Pittsfield, Massachusetts, many farmers in New Lebanon, Hancock, West Pittsfield, and Richmond, began joining the Shaker faith starting in the 1780s. This included numerous members of the Goodrich family, Lucy Wright (the wife of Elizur Goodrich), John and Sarah Deming, Hezekiah Osborne, members of the Hammond family, Samuel Fitch, numerous members of the Talcott family, Luther and Joshua Cogswell, John Wright, Joshua Boyington, and Sarah Harrison. Others further afield, such as Samuel Johnson in West Stockbridge, Zipporah Carey and her mother in
Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
, and Olive Miller of Hinsdale, also were drawn to the Shakers.


Subsequent history

The Hancock Shakers supported themselves primarily through farming. The raising and sale of garden seeds was the most lucrative of their early businesses. Land acquisition and conversion continued for decades, and by the 1830s some 300 Hancock Shakers owned about . After reaching peak membership in the 1840s, the Shaker movement gradually dwindled, partially due to the urban migration that accompanied the
Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...
, and by the
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of New England's youth. By the early twentieth century, the population of the village had fallen to around 50, most of whom were children. The remaining Shakers sold off their excess land, and many buildings were destroyed. The decision was eventually made in 1960 to close the village and sell the property and buildings. Non-Shakers were impressed by the Hancock Shaker property—scrupulously clean, neat, and well-tended—and their innovations in farming, such as the round barn that attracted much attention (see description below). Visitors also praised Hancock Shakers' products, including boxes "of beautiful workmanship" and garden seeds. Before 1820, the village was prosperous and the Shakers were respected as good neighbors.


Architecture


1826 Round Stone Barn

One of the most notable buildings in the village is the "Round Stone Barn" built in 1826. That barn was built in a circular shape for several reasons, the primary one being that it was the most functional. It is one of few surviving round barns in the state. Inside the barn there are four rings. The innermost ring provides ventilation. This ventilation is necessary to help draw the moisture up and out of the hay which prevents mold from growing and the hay from eventually spontaneously combusting. The next ring out is where the hay was stored. It was tossed in from an upper level balcony that was accessible by ox-drawn wagon via a ramp outdoors. Because the barn was round, the wagons could enter, unload the hay and then exit the barn without ever having to back up. The third ring out was where the Shaker brothers would walk to distribute the hay from the second ring to the cows standing in the fourth (outermost) ring. The barn could hold up to 70 cows at a time. They would go to the barn twice a day: once in the morning and once in the evening to be milked. Inside the barn they were put into wooden stanchions. Standing there, the cows could eat while the brothers milked them. The floor of the outermost ring is split level, with the inner part raised up . This was to prevent the unsanitary situation of having the milk buckets on the same level as the manure. In addition, the Shakers developed a way of efficiently removing the manure from the complex to use it for compost. Approximately every four feet around the outermost ring was a trapdoor which was used to quickly scoop the manure from the floor into a pit beneath the barn. Other workers would then access this pit to transport the manure to their gardens to be used as fertilizer.


1830 Brick Dwelling

The other iconic building is the large red-brick dwelling the Hancock Shakers built in 1830 served as dormitory housing to more than one hundred brothers and sisters. The dwelling, like the barn, shows the Shakers' prosperity, as well as their appreciation of the benefits of space, ventilation, and labor-saving modern conveniences such as water piped indoors. The dwelling was a good advertisement for the creature comforts the society provided to its members. In modern times, the visitors to the Hancock Shaker Village can experience authentic Shaker meals in the dining room in the Brick Dwelling. Though the guests are no longer required to separate by sex while they eat, the event maintains its authenticity with its use of sermons, songs, hymns and reliance on natural and candle light. The dwelling also shows how the sexes lived apart under one roof. Wide hallways separate the brethren's rooms from the sisters' rooms; separate doors and stairways for men and women meant that a sister never had to pass a brother going through those openings. Men and women ate at opposite ends of the dining room. The dwelling also has features unusual in habitations of their era; interior windows for borrowed light to illuminate an otherwise-dark stairwell, built-in cabinets and cases of drawers, dumb-waiters for moving food and dishes between the downstairs kitchen and the dining room on the floor above, an abundance of windows for light and ventilation. All of the windows in the building, rather than having a 90-degree angle with the wall, form a 45-degree (approx.) angle in the wall, which allows approximately 30 percent more light into the building—something that significantly keeps the electrical bills low while allowing the people to experience more natural light.


Museum

In 1960, the Shaker Central Ministry closed the Hancock community, and sold its buildings and land. Purchasers formed the
not-for-profit A not-for-profit or non-for-profit organization (NFPO) is a Legal Entity, legal entity that does not distribute surplus funds to its members and is formed to fulfill specific objectives. While not-for-profit organizations and Nonprofit organ ...
Hancock Shaker Village, Inc. to preserve the historic site. The museum opened on July 1, 1961, and was added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1968. The museum's mission statement is "to bring the Shaker story to life and preserve it for future generations." Over 60,000 people a year visit the museum between April and October. It has 20 historic buildings with over 22,000 artifacts, extensive gardens, a working farm, and hiking trails, and runs craft demonstrations. Several special celebrations take place throughout the season, including Baby Animals on the Shaker Farm in the spring and Country Fair in the fall.


As film location

Hancock Shaker Village was included in Bob Vila's
A&E Network A&E (an initialism of its original name, the Arts & Entertainment Network) is an American cable and satellite television network and the flagship property of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Walt Disney Company ...
production ''Guide to Historic Homes of America.'' On May 4, 2012, ''
The Berkshire Eagle ''The Berkshire Eagle'' is an American daily newspaper published in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and covering all of Berkshire County, as well as four New York communities near Pittsfield. It is considered a newspaper of record for Berkshire Coun ...
'' reported that Hancock Shaker Village was one of several local sites chosen for shooting in a
low-budget A low-budget film or low-budget movie is a motion picture shot with little to no funding from a major film studio or private investor. Many independent films are made on low budgets, but films made on the mainstream circuit with inexperienced o ...
thriller film, '' The Secret Village'', with a climax at Hancock Village. The film crew shot scenes on-site on May 3, 2012.


See also

*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Berkshire County, Massachusetts __NOTOC__ This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Berkshire ...
*
List of National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has a total of 192 National Historic Landmarks (NHLs) within its borders. This is the second highest statewide total in the United States after New York, which has more than 250. Of the Massachusetts NHLs, 5 ...


References


External links


Hancock Shaker Village


at the National Park Service {{Authority control Round barns in the United States National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts Religious buildings and structures completed in 1791 Shaker communities or museums Open-air museums in Massachusetts Museums in Berkshire County, Massachusetts Religious museums in Massachusetts Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Berkshire County, Massachusetts 1791 establishments in Massachusetts Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Hancock, Massachusetts