Hancock Shaker Village, Massachusetts

The Village consists of 18 historic buildings set in and around a farm, a field, a meadow and woodlands with a collection of over 20,000 artifacts. Known as the City of Peace, it was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1968. The village was built by the Shakers, a religious group, in the early 1800's. The Shakers reached their peak with about 5,000 members in the mid 19th century. Today the only active community is in the Sabbathday Lake area in Maine. They are considered by many to be the most successful of the hundreds of communal groups and Utopian societies that have flourished in this country since before the Revolutionary War.

Walking through and around the village is like taking a step back into history. You have the feeling that the residents will walk in at any minute and start working. It is a visual delight and provides an informative glimpse at their intriguing lifestyle.
They were all about simplicity, functionality and efficiency. This is reflected in everything from their clothing to their tools, buildings and interior decorations. Unlike the Amish, they accepted electricity and any tools that would make their lives better. They ran a store and sold wares outside the community to provide funding for items they needed to purchase. However, they were mostly self-sufficient, making, growing or raising most things they needed.

The simplicity of their lives can even be seen in their graveyard. A single gravestone, with the individual graves unmarked.

Every effort has been made to show the building and land as it would have looked when the village was an active Shaker community.