Our Snail Tracks

September 26, 2024

We didn’t know much about the Shakers before stopping at Hancock Shaker Village in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. The Shakers were a religious group that worked toward creating “heaven on earth” by living communally. They believed in equality of all people, communal hard work, and the pursuit of joy.

2024 is the 250th anniversary of the Shakers’ arrival in America from England. The Hancock Shaker Village started in 1790. The village housed men and women who made furniture, textiles, dairy products, crafts, farm equipment, tools and more. The Shakers believed in sustainability and welcomed innovation in design and function. Their round barn is a great example of how innovative they were.

Walking around the village, you see an sick room with hospital beds, adult cradles, and primitive medical supplies. You can see where they used looms and spinning wheels to weave, and where they built furniture in the famous Shaker design of simplicity.

There are no longer any Shakers in the village. It operates as an educational museum to help tell the Shaker story today. We are so glad we visited!