Hancock Shaker Village, Pittsfield

The Hancock Shaker Village is an outdoor museum on the Shaker religious community. In the early 19th Century, this faith community was very large. The Shakers lived in their own village and supplied themselves, but they were also known for their furniture with a very simple design. Even today, the Shaker furniture enjoys great popularity and many Scandinavian and Japanese designers were inspired by the style. The members of the Shakers call themselves believers..

Who wanted to go, got clothes and money for the journey to start a new life. In Hancock Shaker Village lived up to 100 people under one roof. The village also was named City of Peace. Until 1960 the village was still inhabited. Today it is a museum village with 21 buildings and the furnishings are original insights into the everyday life of this community of faith. Today there is only one inhabited Shaker village in Maine.

After we paid the entrance fee, we received a schedule about the museum village. We could have had a free audio tour, but we did not and were content to read the information boards.

First, we found ourselves in an exhibition on the history of the Shakers. This exhibition is located in the Visitor Center and examines various aspects of the faith community. So one can watch movies, in which members of the Shaker express themselves at certain things, but it also exhibited typical furniture or equipment that were used to work.

Leaving the Visitor Center, you are in the actual museum village. Here are 21 buildings made of stone, usually in red or white, and very simply what meets the principles of the Shakers. The houses are surrounded by lawns, gardens and small fields, and even today it is still very quiet and peaceful. Most roads are passable for wheelchairs or prams.

In one of the building, behind the tool shed, there was a special exhibition. Here works of art of various kinds have been displayed. Most of the houses were worth seeing, because the insides revealed how people once lived in this community.

A highlight of the museum village is certainly the round barn Round Stone Barn.. This was built so that one man could feed the 54 cows at once. Even today there are still a few animals in the barn, including chickens, cows, sheep and pigs.

Also worth seeing is the Brick Dwelling. It is a huge house in which lived about 100 brothers and sisters. Here, the men lived on the east side and women on the west side of the house. They were separated by an imaginary line. Also for the service there were two entrances into the hall.

The trip to Hancock Shaker Village has definitely worth it, because it is a very nice open-air museum with lots of nature and interesting buildings. It was interesting to learn about this faith community. Too bad I found that the museum was open until five o’clock which felt very early and we wanted to see more. Still worth the visit and very interesting. Five stars.

Check the website for the latest information and prices:
http://www.hancockshakervillage.org/