Hancock Shaker Village June 2008

Hancock Massachusetts

These are the Berkshire Mountains in western Massachusetts and eastern New York. This is what many of my ancestors woke up to every morning.

The Shaker Community

The Shakers were a religious community and movement that began somewhere in the late 178-

s I believe, by Mother Ann. She visited or came through the towns of Pittsfield and Hancock Massahcusetts where my Goodrich ancestors owned a great deal of land. I have the documents that state several of my Goodrichs deed over their land to the Shakers. It is an utopian community that is seeking to escape the daily life and seek commune with God. It is a very peaceful place and I have visited twice. The Shakers believe in keeping the genders separate, which will untimately lead to their own demise. I have the docs that state many of my Goodrichs, Bishops go in and also die within the community.

Wonderful story to tell about this. This house is one of my Goodrich ancester's. I think one of the son's of Elijah Goodrich who owned much of the land in Hancock Mass at the time. This is an original building and pump to the time. I know that the Goodrich family who owns this land in late 1780's becomes a Shaker and many of my Goodrich and Bishop members becomes Shakers as well. Because I was a Goodrich descendent the docent turned on the pump and machinery to demonstrate its workings. Absolutely incredible! What you don't see is that I went into a below level basement where the pump and belts were that generated water power to operate the above machinery and all of it was circa 1760 inventions.

Inside the school house where students, again separated by gender, took their lessons. Whole families would enter the community and then separate by gender.

Inside the housing unit. The large hallway separates the genders into dorms. The ladies were on the left and the men rooms on the right.

The rooms for the children. Notice the small wood burning stove in the center of the room. Even though the dorm building is built early 1800's, the Shakers tended away from large fire places because they wasted valuable wood resources and opted for the small burning stoves instead.

The Kitchen above. This is only of of nearly a dozen that I took of the kitchen. It is the bottom length of that housing dorm, complete with cellars to keep meats and breads cool, cooking hearths and cooking ovens. At any time over 100 members could be living in the dorms and the members would have to cook three meals a day for them. I was told that members had rotating chores that extended several months. So, for three months you would be cooking, then another three months, weaving, then cleaning, or gardening, etc. Everyone had a chore to do all day long.


The barn is perhaps, the most unique feature of the complex. It is circular and an incredible engineering feat. The animals would be centrally located and the carts and wagons on the peripherary.
Furniture making. The Shaker furniture was quite renowned then for its simplicity and yet handcrafted reliability.





This last picture is inside their little church, and again, both genders sit on opposite sides. Thankfully, there was an anthropologist in the early 1920's who saw the need to record the Shaker's church hymn's. As we sat in the church, the recording played over a sound system.


At one point there was a large cemetery I was told. However, at some point it was replaced with a single memorial stone. On my next visit I anticipate getting in to see the original records of burials. There is a burial book with the Pittsfield Library detailing all the deaths of the multiple Shaker communities.