About Hancock Shaker Village

Hancock Shaker Village is a former Shaker commune in Hancock and Pittsfield, Massachusetts. It emerged in the towns of Hancock, Pittsfield, and Richmond in the 1780s, organized in 1790, and was active until 1960. It was the third of nineteen major Shaker villages established between 1774 and 1836 in New York, New England, Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana. From 1790 until 1893, Hancock was the seat of the Hancock Bishopric, which oversaw two additional Shaker communes in Tyringham, Massachusetts, and Enfield, Connecticut.

The village was closed by the Shakers in 1960, and sold to a local group who formed an independent non-profit. This organization now operates the property as an open-air museum. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places and declared a National Historic Landmark District in 1968.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Photos of Hancock Shaker Village

  1. Hancock Shaker Village, Massachusetts01MassachusettsBestbudbrian · CC BY-SA 4.0
  2. Pumpkins Hancock Shaker village02Pumpkins Hancock Shaker villageUnknown photographer · Public domain
  3. Pumpkins Hancock Shaker village03Pumpkins Hancock Shaker villageUnknown photographer · Public domain
  4. Hancock shaker village04Hancock Shaker VillageDylan Steinberg from Philadelphia, United States · CC BY 2.0
  5. Brick Dwelling, Hancock Shaker Village MA05Brick Dwelling, Hancock Shaker Village MAJohn Phelan · CC BY-SA 3.0
  6. House form at Hancock Shaker Village with Brick Dwelling and Round Barn06House form at Hancock Shaker Village with Brick Dwelling and Round BarnBestbudbrian · CC BY-SA 4.0

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Nearby museums

Make a day of it. 4 more museums are within 4.7 miles of Hancock Shaker Village; the closest, Koussevitzky Art Gallery, is about 2.7 miles away.