288 Shaker Road
Canterbury, NH 03224
Phone: 603-783-9511
www.shakers.org
“When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend we
Shan’t be ashamed.
“To turn, turn, will be our delight,
Til by turning, turning
We come ’round right.”
— ELDER JOSEPH, “SIMPLE GIFTS”
In recent times there has been an increased interest in Shaker furniture, architecture, and history, as well as the Shakers’ simple way of living. The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Coming began in eighteenth-century England. An offshoot of the Quakers, they were first known as “Shaking Quakers” because of their ecstatic worship. The Shakers lived a celibate life in community.
The Shaker community at Canterbury began in 1792. Their numbers grew. By 1850 there were about three hundred members living and working in one hundred buildings. The trend then reversed. The last male Shaker in Canterbury died in 1939, and the last female died in 1992 at the age of ninety-six. Canterbury Shaker Village is a museum today. Set on nearly seven hundred acres, there are gardens, forests, and fields for visitors to explore and enjoy. Twenty-five of the buildings are original and four have been reconstructed. The largest of these is the Dwelling House. The oldest part of the house dates to 1793. As the community grew, so did the Dwelling House. The final addition was made in 1837. There were separate areas for bedrooms for the men and the women. The Dwelling House has a common room, dining room, kitchen, and baking room, as well as a chapel in which there are concerts today.